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He also needed to put in some time brushing up on his enchanting skills anyway. Over the past couple of months, he’d let his routine slip a bit as he went about trying to win support from the Ten Tribes, so studying for the Ravens was also something he wanted to do just for himself.

To that end, he had several objects of his attention: the six intact feathers taken from the roc and the horns taken from the bull killed in Hawk territory. The bull’s horns he was studying more intensely since they had inherent anti-magic properties—or so it appeared. The feathers he was also interested in, but they possessed strong wind magic, and that was relatively mundane compared to the horns.

The horns had resisted many of his attempts at studying them. He had mostly concentrated on trying to find some way to penetrate their outer layer with his magic senses, but his magic just kept getting absorbed into the horns. It happened enough that he was starting to suspect that the horns themselves weren’t necessarily anti-magic—in that they weren’t using magic to cancel out other magic—but were something else entirely. What they were he was more reluctant to say since he wanted to see what was within them before voicing any guesses.

As it was, he was starting to worry that he might have to actually crack one of the horns open to see what was inside before he could say anything definite about them. His biggest concern there wasn’t the destruction of a unique material—though that did come in a close second—but rather he wasn’t yet sure how the horns were releasing the magic they absorbed, if they were doing so at all. Breaking one of the horns could release their stored magic in an uncontrolled burst, potentially injuring himself and damaging everything around him.

Naturally, he was being careful with the horns, studying them in a private room of the guest house while everyone else was out seeing to their other duties. Alcander and Alix, in particular, had been running around a lot over the past few days, ensuring that his new knightly order was being whipped into shape. Not an easy thing to do since most of the mages in the order were older than they were and many possessed awakened blood. Not all of them had awakened bloodlines, but those that did Leon had been told were expecting—quietly or loudly—officer appointments.

So, he didn’t begrudge them for spending time away from his palace as they saw to their new duties. He could easily check in on them with his magic senses or comm lotuses so he wasn’t actively concerned, but he still had his worries.

In that respect, studying the horns helped him to get his mind off the knights, at least for the moment.

He put the horns through quite a few tests during the few hours he spent studying them. It didn’t matter what kind of power he used, the horns absorbed them all. He used all seven elements, and the result was the same. He used some of Xaphan’s demonfire, and that, too, was absorbed. The Thunderbird’s lightning was absorbed as well.

The only time he hesitated during these tests was when he used his black fire. From what he knew of the Great Black Dragon, his black fire was renowned for its destructive power. It wasn’t much use in other contexts, but its ability to destroy was unparalleled. So, it was with the greatest caution that he summoned a few black embers.

His caution turned out to be unwarranted as the bull’s horns absorbed them just as easily as they had all his other magics, surprising him so much that he leaned back in his seat and just stared at the horns for several minutes, wondering just what in the hells he had in front of him that could absorb even the Great Black Dragon’s fire.

As he thought about it, he remembered being told that the bull not only could absorb all magic used against it but was also able to use that magic later by ejecting it out of its horns. He wondered if that, then, was the key; if the horns weren’t actually absorbing the magic, but doing something else to it instead.

After pondering the problem a little longer, he also remembered the Librarian, the golem that had maintained his family’s archives beneath Teira. He still had that golem in his soul realm, and the golem had spatial magic woven into its frame, allowing the bronze construct to seemingly conjure at will various writing supplies that it had stored in much the same way a mage might do with their soul realm.

[Xaphan,] he whispered despite knowing that it might disturb the demon’s healing meditations and his absorption of a stream of Mist of Chaos.

[What is it, boy?] Xaphan grumbled as he paused the flow of mist.

[I don’t suppose you know anything about spatial magic?]

[Why in the name of the Prince of Shadow Demons’ shriveled, diseased manhood would I know anything about that?]

[I would’ve thought it standard with demons, what with their summoning and all. If a demon is summoned, then would it not stand to reason that they know something or other about spatial magic?]

[Look at you, using your brain for once. Proud of you. Also, no, it doesn’t stand to reason. There are other factors at play, such as the immense physical infrastructure within the Elemental Planes that allow a demon to travel wherever they have been summoned to, and that’s not even touching on any other methods a demon might choose to use to respond to such calls.]

[So if these horns have some kind of inherent spatial magic to them—]

[Hold the fuck on, kid, I don’t know much about spatial magic, but I know that’s impossible. You ought to know it too, what with being an enchanter and all that.]

[I know that mixing magical elements within the body is impossible; that it requires external enchantments to pull off. Spatial magic, being magic created through mixing darkness, light, and lightning magic, is impossible to use by a mage unaided by other mages, some kind of enchanted equipment, or some other external factor.]

[Do you believe the horns to be artificial in some way?]

[I don’t know, that’s why I’m consulting with someone I consider more knowledgeable than myself.]

[And my pride grows even stronger…] Xaphan whispered, his voice sounding like his lips were curling upward. [I have never heard of any creature having a natural exception to that particular rule. However, I’ll acknowledge that it might—and I speak without the weight of expertise behind me, I’ll remind you—that it might be possible if the beast had been fucked with before. You’ll have to find someone else to help you in that regard.]

[Thanks, demon.]

Xaphan grunted and went back to his meditations while Leon continued to contemplate the horns. He used his magic senses as finely as he could, searching for any sign at all that they might be artificial or had been messed with in any way. Failing to find anything, he turned to other methods of study, from simply shining a light at the horns to see if he could see inside them to waving them around in the air to test how they interacted with ambient magic power.

The only results that his tests showed were of failure. Failure in and of itself, however, was a meaningful result, for it showed that the horns had an uncanny ability to protect themselves from external probes. Leon was growing more and more convinced that they weren’t natural, but were the result of someone trying to protect their work from discovery. The bull the horns had come from had, as he recalled, been suspected to have been an escapee from the Booming Brown Bears.

‘Just more evidence that they’re up to something,’ he thought. ‘Or there’s a Bear that’s both competent enough to breed such a bull, yet incompetent enough to let it escape…’

Briefly, he also contemplated the continued buildup of Bear forces along the border with the Jaguar Tribe. The buildup was nearing its peak as far as Jaguar intelligence went, with the Bears calling up essentially everyone they could without declaring full mobilization, and their army had started running drills along the border, making more than a few Jaguars very nervous. If the release of the beasts into Hawk territory was deliberate, then there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t invade before Leon could finish seeking the support of the remaining Tribes, or worse, that they would invade even if Leon won the majority of the Tribes over to his cause. And if the Bears had any more war beasts akin to the roc or the bull, then the Jaguars might have a hard time fighting them off, even for all their skill in war.

For just a moment, Leon pondered the merits of preemptive strikes, but he quickly ruled them out again.

‘Maybe once I’ve gotten the Harts and the Ravens. If I get the Harts and the Ravens,’ he thought. ‘Invading before then could drive them to the Thunderer’s side. Would also calcify resistance against me among the Bison, Tigers, Spiders, and of course, the Bears. Better to leave that as ‘Plan Z’.’

With that, he scooped the bull’s horns back into his soul realm and got to his feet. The Jaguars had talents other than battle and he felt like he should be able to find someone in Raikos who might be able to help him with the horns. Failing that, he would likely have to wait until his next trip back to Occulara when he could get Heaven’s Eye to work on it with him.

So, with a couple other things rattling around his head that could use addressing, he left his room to find the nearest elder of sufficient rank to speak with. When he projected his magic senses, however, his blood ran cold—the nearest elders were in his training courtyard, and the Jaguar was squaring up with Cassandra. Not only that, but several of Leon’s retainers were present, with both Valeria and Maia watching from the sides, as well as Xanthippe and Exallos Aetos.

Given the presence of the rest of his family and that no one seemed overtly angry, Leon began moving quickly, but not so much that he reached the courtyard before blades were crossed.

True to her nature, Cassandra made the first move. She swung her practice sword in a swift, but straight-forward overhead strike that the Jaguar easily blocked. The Jaguar pushed back strongly enough that Cassandra was thrown back, and the Jaguar followed up with a lightning-quick slice across her abdomen.

Fortunately, they were both using training blades so Cassandra wasn’t injured, but she stumbled back clutching her abs with a look of pain on her face.

It was only then that Leon arrived, a look of concern on his face. He didn’t say anything aloud, but he made his presence known with his aura alone.

The elders turned to greet him, bowing as they did so.

“Is everything all right here?” Leon asked the courtyard.

“We were only sparring,” Xanthippe swiftly responded. “Some fighting words were exchanged that demanded honorable combat.”

“What kind of words?” Leon asked, focusing his gaze on Cassandra and the Jaguar.

“He insulted my Empire!” Cassandra shouted as she straightened up, the stunning effects of the training blade apparently having faded.

“I but expressed my doubts that any kind of lasting peace could be established between our people and yours,” the Jaguar coolly replied.

“He called me a barbarian!” Cassandra hotly replied.

Leon frowned and made eye contact with Maia and Valeria.

The latter shrugged while the former whispered into Leon’s mind, [Not directly, he only implied it.]

Leon sighed, then in a burst of anger let his aura explode out of him, killing the brewing argument stone dead.

He glared at Cassandra and the Jaguar for a moment, letting it drag out uncomfortably long as he slowly advanced toward them. He began pushing his aura out more, letting its weight settle in around them. Neither buckled, both being ninth-tier themselves, but he wanted to make his ‘outrage’ apparent.

In truth, while he was angry, he was overdoing it quite a bit. He just wanted to make his intent clear even if it didn’t quite line up with his actual emotions. And he had intended to prevent any conflict between Cassandra and the rest of the elders from taking place. However, before he got around to voicing that intent, he thought better of it.

He’d already had to stop a spar between Cassandra and Xanthippe before, worried as he was that so soon after the announcement of her origin, it would lead to further disagreement. But he supposed that the Jaguar Tribe and the Lion Tribe were both highly martial peoples, and letting them get their aggression out now would be more conducive to a good working relationship later.

So, he kept walking until he stood nose-to-nose with the Jaguar, and he growled, “Do you have a problem with my wife?”

The Jaguar stood firm under the weight of Leon’s aura. “No, Your Majesty,” he quietly replied, though Leon detected not a shred of remorse in his eyes.

But that was fine.

Leon turned around and took a few steps until he was in Cassandra’s face. “Do you have a problem with the Jaguar of the West?”

He maintained his intense glare, but he reached out with his darkness magic and whispered to her in a much softer tone, [Let’s not take this too far, all right?]

Cassandra frowned and glared back at him, but she said, “No, I don’t have any problem with him.”

In an instant, Leon retracted his aura completely and in a pleasant tone said, “Good. Then we can spar as friends.”

He stepped out from between the two of them and went to stand with Valeria and Maia.

“A friendly bout, so that we can all get to know each other better. Doesn’t that sound fantastic? We can get any nonexistent tension worked out, and then approach any further problems we may have with each other in a calm and civilized manner. Trust comes after comfort, after all.”

He didn’t need to say much more for Cassandra before she was assuming a combat stance again. The Jaguar, however, stared in muted surprise at Leon for a solid few seconds before he assumed fighting posture as well, though he did so more slowly than Cassandra did.

But their reactions were markedly different from most of their spectators. Xanthippe stared at Leon in delighted shock as she fingered a training spear she was holding while Exallos only frowned and sighed. Maia seemed rather disinterested, though Leon noted that she was giving the Jaguar some rather unkind looks—unkind by her inexpressive standards, at least—and Valeria just looked resigned to the whole thing.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” his silver-haired lover whispered to him as she leaned against him for a moment.

[No, I’m kind of just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. So, I figure if they’re going to fight anyway, let’s get it over with now. Might help to get it worked out of their system, right? Anything to avoid further war on this plane…s]

“Might also create problems,” Valeria whispered back before standing up straight again.

Leon sighed, then gave the signal to begin.

Cassandra almost exploded in a flurry of blows at the Jaguar, who weathered them all with poise and grace. Leon saw that while Cassandra’s strikes were fast and violent, she was being a little more conservative in her attacks this time, ensuring that while she didn’t strike with as much power as she could, she was leaving fewer openings for the Jaguar to exploit.

The Jaguar, on the other hand, seemed almost bored. His face remained completely impassive, not twitching at all even as Cassandra rained blows down upon him, all of which he expertly blocked or deflected. Leon even thought he might’ve had a few small openings he could’ve attacked Cassandra through but chose not to.

[I hope you’re not going easy on her,] Leon silently whispered to him.

His eyes opened in surprise for a moment before shooting the quickest of glances.

Leon wasn’t too shocked when the Jaguar whispered back, [I am only learning her fighting style.]

[So you haven’t even begun to fight?] he replied, not expecting an answer and not receiving one either.

The Jaguar danced around Cassandra for another minute or so before smoothly disarming her as she minutely overcommitted to an attack after growing visibly frustrated. The entire courtyard was silent as Cassandra’s sword was swept from her hands and thrown across the floor. The entire fight lasted about two minutes, but the Jaguar, despite being the same tier as Cassandra, had dominated the fight. He’d bested her with nothing but skill and there’d been little she could do about it.

“Thank you for the bout,” the Jaguar politely said, his gaze now marginally less hostile to Cassandra than it had been upon Leon’s arrival. “You have great skill.”

“And more potential,” Xanthippe added from the sidelines.

“Thank you,” Cassandra stiffly replied as she retrieved her weapon.

“It’s somewhat vindicating to see such power from one of the… Empires from across the sea,” Exallos added. “It would’ve been embarrassing if one of our great rivals over these past millennia possessed little or no skill at all.”

“I’m so glad that my loss didn’t embarrass you,” Cassandra said through gritted teeth, her frustration plain to see and plainer to hear.

“Move your ass, spotted-man,” Xanthippe said as she practically shoved the Jaguar out of her way. She grinned at Cassandra and said, “I’ve wanted to fight you since seeing you in my arena, your lineage notwithstanding. What do you say? Shall we get to know each other as only those who’ve crossed steel can?”

That challenge brought a faint smile to Cassandra’s face, and she quickly took a position opposite Xanthippe and raised her blade, as did the Lioness. After a moment of calm, they sprang at each other, both going on the offensive and unleashing what would’ve been a terrible storm of death at each other if they’d been wielding lethal weapons.

Xanthippe was more obviously enjoying herself with her wide smile and wide eyes. Cassandra was a little harder to read but Leon felt like he could see glee shining in her ruby eyes.

He was encouraged to see this. While he made it his goal to bring peace to the Empires and the Ten Tribes, he wasn’t so naïve as to think it would happen simply because he demanded it, crown or no crown, Thunderbird blood or no Thunderbird blood. But this could serve as a good stepping-off point, the first step in a productive relationship that could see an end to hostilities.

He pried his eyes away from the fight and directed his attention to the Jaguar, who watched the fight with complete dispassion.

[Still believe that peace is impossible?] Leon asked.

Without looking away from Cassandra and Xanthippe, the Jaguar replied, [The Tribes will do as you command, as is our duty as your subjects. But I will always remain on guard against those who would do my people harm.]

[And if the Empires no longer wish you harm? Or at least Cassandra’s Empire?]

The Jaguar was silent for a long moment before finally turning his eyes to Leon. [I will kill all those who threaten my people. Those who do not threaten us have nothing to fear from me.]

His eyes turned away from Leon and landed on Cassandra. From the way he stared at her, like a hunter cautiously eyeing a rival, Leon knew that he wasn’t quite ready to believe that Cassandra wasn’t a threat, but Leon believed he was moving closer.

And for the moment, that was good enough.