Omar Green stood next to his commander, Duke Dreyfus, while they supervised the rest of the company setting up camp. He had been General Duke Dreyfus's second in command for many years now. Usually he could say that he trusted the Duke's judgment completely and respected him without question, but in this instance he felt it was his duty to question his superior.
They were setting up camp almost on top of Miss Lotus's camp, which was nowhere near as far into the Shadow Forest as they were originally planning to travel on their first day. This proposed trip had a code name for many years, it was that important, and ordered by the Queen Dowager herself. There was no room to bring in an unknown element. Most of the people in their company knew that they were looking for some sort of mafau, but they did not know the real reason why this trip was so important. They were mostly looking for the gateway to the true source of magic. The Duke and Omar were the only two in their hunting group who knew this hidden goal. This was not just a hunting trip, regardless of how tempting their target was.
"You really think it's wise to linger here," Omar said, while rubbing the dark brown scruff on his cleft chin. His pale green eyes the color of apples were squinting in appreciation towards Jessera, as she bent over, while setting up some tents. His short brown hair curled around the bottom of his ears and on the crown of his head in spirals. He wore a basic tunic style garment tied with a leather strap and pouches, much like the rest of the men in the hunting party, and tight fitting men's breeches, in the traditional hunting color of red.
"We will leave in the morning," said Erin Dreyfus while looking at Omar.
Jessera glanced behind herself, hoping that Duke Drefus was watching. Only to meet Omar's leering eyes locked onto her. Omar winked while she quickly looked away; filled with irritation. Jessera knew that it was unlikely her one sided affections would ever be returned. She certainly didn't feel like she was worthy enough for him. However, inadequate she felt didn't excuse some country bumpkin tainting him. What was so great about a random woman in the woods anyway? Her magic? Her beauty? The shine of her silver hair? Some people would call that beautiful, she knew others who would think it was eerie. Jessera couldn't stand it! She knew that she wasn't worthy of General Duke Erin Dreyfus, but that certainly didn't mean that she was willing to give him up to trash.
Jessera stood up in irritation and stomped off to the back of the camp, away from Erin and Omar. She wasn't going to be a show for Omar! How dare he ever assume that she had any interest in him!
"You certainly have a way with women," Erin Dreyfus said to Omar.
"That I do," Omar said with a smug look on his face.
"When can I expect the wedding?" Erin said.
"No, no, no, this man is a wild mafau! I couldn't possibly be tied down yet. The other women of the world would weep and you know how I hate to see women suffering. There's enough of me to go around. I'm much more into the catch and release method," said Omar.
"Speaking of women though, what are you going to do about the silver haired beauty? I saw the way you were looking at her, but when you're ready to move on, I wouldn't mind taking over," Omar said suggestively while nudging Erin.
Duke Dreyfus's emerald eyes turned cold . Colder than any ice magic Omar had ever seen. They were the eyes of a predator ready to strike. "Lotus is mine. If anyone dares to look at her for too long, I'll gouge their eyes out," said Duke Erin Dreyfus.
Omar could tell by Erin's tone of voice that he was entirely serious. He made a mental note to never look at Lotus for very long. He put both of his hands up in a defensive gesture and took a step back.
"I was just joking with you. It was only to test your reaction. So it's safe to assume that we aren't going to go off on our merry way and be done with the girl by morning?" Omar said.
"She's coming with us," said Erin.
Omar frowned. "It didn't seem like that was her intention."
"Intentions can change," said Erin.
Omar pressed, trying to get more clarification. "I don't think that her intentions will change by morning."
"That's likely true, but I don't see that as an issue; do you?" Erin said in a tone of challenge.
"No Sir! However, this is far from a recreational trip," Omar said.
"That's why you'll be in charge of protecting her," said Erin.
"Does that protection also include protecting her from you?" Said Omar.
"It does not," said Erin with an excited glint in his eyes.
Omar sighed while running his hand through his hair. This whole situation seemed like a huge pain. He already had to be on guard just to keep himself alive during this hazardous mission. Now he was also in charge of protecting a civilian through the deeper parts of the Shadow Forest. This was not the right time to play babysitter. Especially not for a random woman who didn't want to travel with them in the first place!
Erin looked into Omar's eyes levelly. "Don't think that I can't easily read you. Under no circumstances are you allowed to let that girl slip away. If you lose her, there will be consequences."
Omar swallowed nervously. He wasn't easily intimidated, but Erin was definitely an exception. "Yes, your Grace," he said while looking down.
Duke Dreyfus released some of his aura, which he normally kept tucked inside his core. Feeling some of the pressure from Erin's aura released, sweat started to trickle down Omar's face, and his knees collapsed. He quickly bowed low with his forehead in the dirt, showing submission.
"You're Grace, please forgive me," Omar said in a choked whisper. "I meant no offense."
The core resided just below a magical being's heart. In a magical plant (Maflo), the core was at the center of its roots. A magical core had a hard center and a soft springy outside, much like a fruit with a pit. Mafau and Maflo core pits were extremely valuable. The stronger the magic within the core pit, the harder the core's pit became. The color of the core pit was different depending on what type of magic it contained. Duke Dreyfus's core was red and green, a frightening combination. The red was fire and the green was from his flora manipulation.
A strong magic user often had eye or hair color that matched their magic type. The magic they held within themselves could cause their looks to change from what they originally would have been. Most of the time, it was just one element that was strong enough to change a feature, but sometimes it was more than one. There were also some whose looks never changed, since their powers were never strong enough to affect their appearance.
Duke Dreyfus had three magical abilities, which were called 'Abagica'. Having the power of an element, did not mean that you could do whatever you wanted with that element. The specific thing you could do with that element was your abagica. It was possible to improve your control over your abagica by reading manuals.
Talented individuals also often went to school to learn enchantments. Releasing just the right amount of mana while using your abagica, and using the right hand movements, would add enchantments to your abagica. An enchanted abagica would have different properties than it originally had.
For instance, if Amber knew enchantments she could turn her 'Ice Needles' into Poison Ice Needles without having to add poison. Her 'Metal Marionette' abagica was already pretty diverse, but if she was able to enchant the objects she made, there would be a great deal more she could do with it. Someone who was even more practiced in using their magic could learn to combine their different abagica to make them do new things. For instance, if Amber could combine her Ice Needles and her Ice Ribbons, she could create Spike Covered Ice Ribbons. Unfortunately, Amber didn't know how to use enchantments and she didn't know how to use her abagica effectively.
Duke Dreyfus had water magic, which had manifested itself into his ability to create bubbles. This abagica was called 'Bubble Prison'. Although his bubbles were quite strong, they were the weakest of his Abilities. Then he had his flora manipulation and lastly he had his fire magic. His fire abagica manifested itself into his power, 'Inferno'. Inferno was a strong magic which could easily set everything around him into roaring flames. He had little control over his flames even now and so he rarely used his fire. A magic user's strongest abagica was always the hardest for them to control.
Having a good knowledge of their abagica could help a magic user control and wield their powers more effectively. Usually young magic users were tested at an early age, but accidents during testing sometimes happened. If there was a particularly strong abagica, it overshadowed the other ones during testing. Such as what happened during Duke Dreyfus's test when he'd turned twelve. During his elemental test, he was only seen as a fire user. Testing as a strong fire user in an Ice Kingdom had been a great boon. It had made it easy for him to shoot up in rank, but had also caused him to experience other more unsavory situations.
"How are you going to convince her?" Omar said.
"I don't have time for that. Have her ready to go by morning and keep her complaints quiet. I don't need her startling everything in the forest," said Duke Dreyfus.
"Aren't you concerned about the consequences?"
"What consequences could come from a Duke picking up a stray commoner? What self respecting noble would live out here? Regardless, if she is related to a noble family, I will buy her from them," said Duke Dreyfus.
"As you wish. I will take my leave to make the necessary preparations," Omar said while bowing.
This whole situation was quite shocking to Omar, since he had never seen the Duke this possessive before. He wondered if the Duke's version of courting would resemble his viciousness on the battlefield. It was starting to look like it would.