This story is AU and takes place in the same Earth as New Beginnings.
Bhavacakra
Seventeen
(9/12/06 0500, Wolf Lodge, Texas League)
Morwen ran down the street, chased by the sound of growls and footsteps behind her. She spotted an alley up ahead and ducked into it to try and lose her pursuers. The Vampire looked around for a hiding spot and then looked up. She tried to levitate to a rooftop, only to curse softly when nothing happened. Shadows appeared at the mouth of the alley and she turned to see a mob of men, women and pokegirls pour into it after her. She fled down the alley and into the next street only to skid to a stop when she realized that street was filled with more people. They turned, saw her and began running in her direction, sending up an eerie howl of glee as they closed. She turned to run when the first group came out of the alley. The group’s flanks spread out to merge with the second group, forming a circle that slowly began to shrink as the running figures slowed to a walk.
Frantic, Morwen threw herself at the thinnest part of the wall and tried to batter her way through it. People flew away from her at each enhanced strength blow, but eventually their force of numbers proved too much and she was taken to the ground where they began ripping the clothing from her body. She screamed in fury and struggled wildly, but couldn’t get free as they spread-eagled her and the first man stepped between her legs, his pants already open to reveal his erection. Behind him, a line began to form.
A dark form poured from her stomach and coalesced into a negative image of her, standing with its legs on either side of her torso. It raised a hand to the sky and bellowed. “ENOUGH!” Black lightning burst from the hand and struck into and through the people around Morwen, spreading until the bolts of energy connected everyone around her. Her attackers exploded into clouds of ash and dispersed on the breeze. In seconds the street was empty.
The figure stepped to the side and reached down to take Morwen’s hand. Instantly, the young Vampire was clothed again, this time in a heavy linen shirt that was much too large for her and hung down to her knees. The negative Morwen smiled. “Let’s go someplace nicer than this.” She led the unresisting young woman to the nearest door and opened it to usher her into a bedroom. The door shut and vanished as she gently pushed Morwen towards the bed. “Sit down and relax. You’re safe now.”
Morwen gingerly perched on the edge of the bed. “Where are we?”
The negative Morwen changed, her skin lightening from solid black to ivory as her hair became ash blonde. Her ears moved up her skull and became wolflike. “I’m sorry for my appearance changing, but I’m in flux as I wake up.” She sat in a chair that materialized near the bed. “We’re in the place where you currently feel safest. I believe you sneak into Kerrik’s room when you’re hiding from Raven and the others, so that’s probably where this is.”
Morwen turned bright red. “How did you know that? Who are you and where was I?”
“You were having the nightmare you often do, where you get raped for becoming a pokegirl. We’re still in your dreams, but I’ve gotten involved to take you someplace safe.” She smiled. “I’m your twee. I’ve been waking up for the past few hours, but only just woke up enough to help you a few minutes ago.”
“You’re not anything like what I expected.”
“I am what you need me to be, Morwen. Right now you needed rescued from your nightmare, so I did.”
“Will you keep me from having it again?”
“That I can’t do, but what I will do is work with you to overcome the reasons why you’re having it in the first place. When that happens, the nightmare will stop.”
“Why am I having it?”
The twee hesitated. “You feel a desire to punish yourself. You feel that somehow you could have prevented threshold and that you’re a failure for becoming a pokegirl. It’s not true. The information available about threshold indicates that what happened wasn’t anything you could have stopped. Considering how much you hated the thought of being a Bunnygirl, you actually did the best thing you could in guiding the process to becoming a Vampire instead. Everyone here thinks you did something really brave and wonderful when you did.”
“Who thinks that?”
“You have to understand that I’m currently activating my communication abilities, but I’ve already established contact with Raven, Whisper and Misery’s twees, even though all three of them are currently asleep. All of them think you’re rather remarkable for doing what you did, although they would either deny it or make fun of it if you asked. It is part of the defensive mechanism that each of them has adopted because of the fact that, until they met Kerrik, everything they ever cared for was either killed or otherwise taken from them.” She winked at Morwen conspiratorially. “I probably wasn’t supposed to find that out, but they’re not sneaky like I am.” She sighed. “Well, they just wised up, so I probably won’t be able to give you more secrets like that.”
“What about Kerrik?”
“He doesn’t have a twee, so I don’t know for sure, but Virtue says he’s very proud of what you’ve accomplished, both there and here.” She smiled as Morwen whooped and bounced on the bed. “I thought that would be important for you to know.” The twee grinned. “After all, your comfort place is his room and your comfort clothing is the shirt you stole from him.”
Morwen turned bright red. “It smells like him,” she said defensively.
The twee nodded. “And that’s fine. I will never judge you, Morwen. I can’t. I want what you want.” Her eyes flashed. “Your alarm is going off. It’s time to wake up. Don’t you worry; I’ll still be with you.”
Morwen opened her eyes and sat up. Good morning.
She smiled in the darkness as she turned off her wristwatch alarm. “This is great!”
I am glad that you feel that way. I think I couldn’t have found myself inside anyone better than you, although perhaps the fact that I think that may be part of my conditioning. It doesn’t matter. I’m with you and this is going to be fun.
(9/12/06 0530, Wolf Lodge, Texas League)
Kerrik racked the free weights and sat up when he heard Morwen’s voice. “Kerrik!”
He stood up and pitched his voice to carry without being loud. “I’m over here.”
The Vampire raced out of the darkness and threw herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. “My twee woke up!” She grabbed his head and kissed him soundly. Kerrik, not to be outdone, returned the kiss.
Neither was ever sure how long it was before it ended. She looked at him with wide eyes for several seconds before leaning forward again until he stopped her. Morwen rested her head against his chin and sighed as her heart pounded against his chest. “How long do I have to wait?”
“You’re birthday is March ninth.”
“There is a good reason for waiting that long, right?”
“Yes, there is, and you know it.”
She dropped to the ground and looked at him with a sad smile. “Just keep reminding me of it, ok?”
“Does it help to know that I have to keep reminding myself, too?”
“Actually, yes, it does.” She glanced back at the lodge. “Do you think Misery would mind if I woke her up? I know that I need to call her name before I touch the bed.”
“I think she would be happy that you choose to seek her out.” He tapped his forehead. “And I happen to have fairly good insight into how she might feel about something like that.”
“That’s right.” She hugged him and pecked a kiss on his lips. “Bye.” Then she was gone.
Kerrik’s ears rotated as they tracked her until she went inside the lodge. He took a deep breath and shuddered as his nose told him just how willing Morwen had been. A growl sounded low in his throat as he turned to glare at the hills around the lodge. “A nice long run should help and if I manage to fall off a couple of cliffs while doing it, so much the better.” He sprinted off into the night.
(9/12/06 0700, Wolf Lodge, Texas League)
“I feel like crap.” Autumn stared at her toast with revulsion.
Raven looked up from the tome she was reading. Although she drank her breakfast away from the table, Kerrik had requested her and Morwen’s presence during meals. She tended to use the time to work on the spellbooks he’d loaned her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been having Braxton-Hicks all night, but this time there’s something new. Not only am I having contractions, but now my back and neck are killing me.” She grimaced. “I have been shot, set on fire and damn near frozen solid and this is worse than all of them.” She blinked as Kerrik suddenly shoveled his eggs onto his toast and crammed it into his mouth. “That’s disgusting.”
Kerrik choked down the food in a single gulp. “Give me your hand.” Before she could say anything, he stretched across the table and grabbed her wrist. His eyes unfocused for a moment and then he grinned. “We’re not going to Austin today after all. Autumn, you’re in labor.”
She carefully pulled out of his grip. “I just said I’m having contractions again.”
“And I just said you’re in labor. This isn’t Braxton-Hicks contractions. You are in full blown labor and you’re having your babies later today.” He pushed to his feet as everyone else froze. “It’s not the end of the world, people. Raven, I want you to set up a training schedule for everyone else today. When Autumn is farther along, I’ll let you guys know.”
(9/12/06 0900, Austin, Texas League)
Buck Hartman looked up from a tattered paperback when the bell rang over the door. “Good morning, miss,” he paused and snapped his fingers. “Miss Raven Wolf, wasn’t it? You’re the pretty one in the cheerleader outfit that had the nice legs.”
Raven smiled, careful to not show her teeth. She was wearing faded jeans and a dust colored blouse, along with a sombrero on her head. It made her almost completely anonymous compared to the rest of the inhabitants of Austin. “That’s right, Mr. Hartman. I’m here because Kerrik won’t be able to visit you today as he’d said he would. One of his pokegirls is delivering her babies and he says he’ll have to finish the arrangements to purchase the land later. He asked me to come by to see if you had the breakdown on how you wanted us to pay for the land. Do you?”
“I do have the list of things we want, but did you say he was delivering babies today? He’s too young to know much about babies and labor.”
Raven started to protest and stopped. Kerrik did look very young. “Everything is under control, Mr. Hartman.”
Buck ignored her as he headed into the back. “Just a moment.” He was back a minute later with a satchel slung over his arm. “It just so happens that I’m one of the local midwives, having almost finished my residency before the war got serious. I’ll be glad to help Kerrik deliver any children.” He pulled a piece of plywood with the words “Gone Birthing” painted on it from the top of a shelf and stuck it in the door window. “Step outside and I’ll lock up so we can go.”
“Mr. Hartman,” she began, only to stop when he held up a hand.
“I’ve got the list and so he and I can discuss how the final arrangements will be made. If he doesn’t need any help, I won’t butt in, but if he does, I’ll be around.”
Raven nodded slowly. “Very well, Mr. Hartman, but have you ever been transported by teleport? That’s how I got here and how I’ll be going home.”
He blinked. “You can do that? That’s a pretty rare talent. In any case, I have. Miss Amelia Henry down the street is an Alaka-Wham and she helps me get to various cities if I need to.” They stepped outside and he locked up the shop. “So do you hold my hand or do you need to hug me?”
“Don’t you want to bring a pokegirl along?”
“My girls are off working. Are you suggesting that I can’t trust your hospitality?”
Raven scowled. “I am suggesting nothing of the kind. My hospitality and my tamer’s hospitality are above reproach.”
“Then I’ll be fine on my own as long as I don’t wander off, won’t I?” Hartman held out his hand. Raven stared at it for several seconds before her scowl deepened and she took it.
They appeared in center of the lodge’s parking lot. Hartman looked around and grinned suddenly. “I’ve been here. I brought a girlfriend here before the war. She said we had to go someplace special before she’d let me be her first. It worked, too.” He jumped when a sharp crack sounded overhead. His hand fell to his pistol as he whirled. “What is that?”
“Misery is on the roof working on her marksmanship.” That was true enough, but the Mini-top was really examining fields of fire and taking test shots for range.
“I see. I wanted to ask, since you have access to manufacturing, I was curious if that access extended to firearms and ammunition.”
Raven headed for the door as Misery fired again. “It does, and we’re talking to Robert and Annette Gilchrest about selling them for us. They own a store in Austin. We’ve only got a few standard types, however, although Kerrik wants to see about supplying ammunition for commonly used calibers when we can.” She held the door open for Hartman. “We don’t want to suppress others from starting businesses and so we have a fine line to walk between being helpful and stifling competition. We’ll also be looking into selling equipment to others so they can become entrepreneurs.”
“That’s very considerate, but I think we need the aid pretty badly right now.”
“You’ll be buying tons of supplies from us, we’ll be selling new firearms and other supplies in some cities and any belligerent Sunny forces coming through here won’t continue on to bother anyone else. You are already getting a lot of aid from a single family, which just happens to be mine.” Raven led him to a door and stopped. “I can’t go in there.”
“Why not?”
The door opened and Morwen came out with a tray. “This is boring as hell. Morwen get some water, Morwen get some juice, Morwen this, Morwen that.”
Raven’s eyes glinted with suppressed humor. “Tired of working with Kerrik?”
“You have no idea. This is about as exciting as watching grass grow. If there’s anything Autumn hasn’t asked for, it’s because they haven’t made it yet.”
“Then drop that stuff off in the kitchen and meet me down by the lemon tree. We can get in some training.”
The young Vampire blinked. “You know, this isn’t so bad after all.”
“Too late,” Raven laughed. “Get your butt down to the lemon tree.”
Morwen assumed an air of resigned acceptance familiar to parents around the world who had teenage children. “Yes, my maharani.” She slowly trudged off towards the dining hall.
Hartman watched the exchange with interest. “Is she ok?”
“She’s fine. Morwen is still a pokekit and is learning to use her abilities.” Raven opened the door and peeked inside. “Mr. Hartman is here to see you, Kerrik. Ok, you can go in.”
Hartman pushed the door open as the Archmage disappeared back outside. Kerrik was seated next to the bed. A small table had been put alongside the bed where Autumn could reach it and she was looking at a stack of dominoes. Her eyes flicked up. “Who are you?”
Kerrik was watching Hartman with neutral eyes. “This is Buck Hartman. Buck, this is Autumn, my Elfqueen.”
Buck nodded as he stared at Kerrik’s ears. “Miss Autumn. Kerrik, when Raven told me what was going on here, I asked her to bring me so I could assist. I’m a midwife.”
Kerrik chuckled. “Postmaster, league official and now you’re a midwife. Is there any job you don’t do?” He waved at an empty chair as Autumn played a domino. “Grab a chair.”
“I wanted to be a postmaster. I had almost finished my residency when the war got serious and so I’m an ad hoc doctor, but most of what I do involves midwifery and obstetrics. It’s what I studied to be, after all. I can’t make a living at it since women are usually infertile, and now I also work with pregnant pokegirls. And, as you should remember, I became a league official in a moment of madness, since passed.”
Autumn grunted and rubbed her stomach through her gown. “That hurt less than the others.”
Kerrik nodded. “As the babies drop, the contractions sometimes get easier for a while.” He glanced up. “Where is Morwen?”
“I think Raven took her outside to remind her there are worse things than playing the assistant to you.”
“Ah.”
“I have to ask, what are you? Are you a male pokegirl?”
Autumn snickered and sipped some water as Kerrik’s ears flattened for a heartbeat. “No, I’m not. I’m a Japanese nature spirit.”
Hartman seemed to take the odd statement in stride. “I didn’t realize that things were so bad in Japan that you had to leave. How are the humans doing?”
“They’re fine. Nippon is in no danger from ferals and the Edo league is about to get a nasty surprise. My maharani wanted to live here and like I said before, I like the government. I’m tired of living in empires, and that’s what Nippon is right now.” Kerrik played a domino. “Autumn is fine, and is still a couple of hours away from the hardest labor. First pregnancies can be odd, though, so I wanted to stick around in case there was a problem.” He shrugged. “I offered to c-section her, but she wants to do this the old fashioned way. Since I approve, I’m not going to argue with her decision.”
“How can you do surgery without equipment?”
“I’ve got a sharp knife and Raven could heal her up without a mark, or I could pokeball her and run her through a healing cycle to reach the same result.”
Hartman looked impressed. “That’s part of the stuff you’ll be selling us, right?”
“Yes.”
“That reminds me, why isn’t Raven allowed in here?”
Autumn grimaced. “They won’t leave me alone. If they hovered any closer to me, I’d have to have a hose providing an air supply to breathe.”
Kerrik smiled. “Raven, Misery and Whisper are all hunter pokegirls, which is a specialized variant of the normal breeds designed by Sukebe to clean up his mistakes. They’ve got some special abilities and a couple of odd quirks. Hunter pokegirls have a very strong mothering instinct and they can transfer that to the offspring of others. None of my ladies has ever had children and they’re fascinated by Autumn’s pregnancy, so when they were allowed in here, they had a tendency to hover and try to ‘help’.” Kerrik made air quotation marks with his fingers. “I know they were trying, but all it really managed to do was piss the hell out of Autumn. Nobody needs an angry and hurting Elfqueen around, not if they like the building they’re living in.”
Autumn’s chuckle broke off in a groan as her belly rippled beneath her robe. “You said the hardest labor is in a couple of hours?”
“I did.”
“Shit.”
Kerrik moved around the table and sat on the edge of the bed, taking Autumn’s hand and leaning over to kiss her gently. “Would you like to revisit the discussion we had about pain control? There isn’t really any reason for you to hurt this much.” He started to say something else and stopped.
Autumn grinned. “I know; no reason except for my own stupid obstinacy. But how can I explain to my daughters what delivery feels like if I don’t experience it?”
“They won’t believe you and you can’t tell them how they’re going to feel during it. Pain is different for every individual. However, if you’d like, when they’re old enough I’ll sit them down and scare them with stories of everything that can go wrong. Then they’ll ask for pain management and they won’t hurt as much, either.
She smiled softly. “You’d do that for me?”
She smiled softly. “You’d do that for me?”
“Yes, and I’ll do it for our daughters.”
Her stomach rippled again and she gasped. “Then dope me up.”
Kerrik held out a hand towards the pack on the other side of the room. His ears flattened. “Forgot,” he muttered as he got up and fetched the ratty looking backpack. “Stupid me.” He pulled a tiny glass vial from the pack and pulled the stopper. The he lifted Autumn’s head. “Just drink this and you’ll be fine.”
The Elfqueen drank it down without another word and smiled. “I like the flavor.”
“It tastes like vanilla. I’m long past the point where medicines need to taste vile.” He carefully lowered her head back to the pillow.
“When will it start to,” her eyes widened. “That’s fast.” Her face relaxed. “I don’t think I’ve felt this good in months.”
“When will it start to,” her eyes widened. “That’s fast.” Her face relaxed. “I don’t think I’ve felt this good in months.”
Hartman looked at the vial. “What is this stuff?”
“It’s an analgesic potion.” Kerrik put the vial and stopper into a different pocket on his pack. “Being a magical potion, it only affects the pain for the user and leaves all other faculties alert.” He returned to his chair.
“I don’t suppose you will be selling that?”
Kerrik looked thoughtful as Autumn went back to examining her dominos. “I don’t really have time to be making a lot of that or other potions, and technological manufacturing can’t duplicate the effects easily. However, I’ll talk things over with Raven and see if we can’t adapt the formula to use by magical pokegirls. If so, then we’ll probably sell the formula to someone who can go into production. Speaking of selling, do you have the breakdown of the payment for the land I want to buy?”
Buck dug a sheet of paper from his satchel and handed it over. “I know you said you could get this equipment to us quickly, but I really need to ask that you expedite it as much as possible. The Indigo league tamers are using some of this stuff and they’re really pressing us hard.”
Kerrik moved his dominos aside to put the paper on the table. He pulled his pokedex from his belt and waved it over the sheet, scanning it into memory. Then he looked at the display. He pressed a couple of keys and looked up. “Everything together comes to a little more than eighty tons of supplies. I should be able to have what you want here tomorrow and we’ll deliver them to Austin the next day, unless there are complications with Autumn or the kits.” He smiled. “I don’t know where your tamers are, so I’m not inclined to go haring off all over the place looking for them. You’ll need to arrange storage of the supplies since I don’t own any property in Austin, much less any warehouses.”
Hartman was staring at him. “You’ll have eighty tons of supplies to us in two days? How on earth are you going to do that? The roads are cut everywhere, even if you had a tractor trailer that could survive the feral pokegirls.”
“The StarlightXpress pokegirl, which by the way is extremely rare, can create a forcefield construct around herself that’s pretty big. It’s really designed for going into space, but it can be used in an atmosphere. The carrying capacity varies from pokegirl to pokegirl, but we think that Whisper’s upper limit for her construct is around two thousand tons.” He shrugged. “We haven’t tested her with carrying more than twelve hundred, but eighty tons won’t be a problem for her. She’s going to be my cargo carrier.”
“Can I ask what her top speed is?” Hartman was looking very thoughtful.
“We haven’t found out. I know she can do at least mach speed in atmosphere, but I’m not sure for how long she can keep that up. Normally we cruise around two hundred miles per hour.”
“How much would you charge to deliver some of the supplies to Austin, Dallas, Houston, El Paso and Corpus Christi? I’d say Amarillo and Brownsville, but they’re both vulnerable and I don’t want to set up a supply depot only to lose it.”
“If you want to do that, first you need to break things down into groups. I am not going to stop for a day or so in each place while people try to figure out what they want. If I agree to deliver, it’s going to be a dump and run. Once you’ve got the breakdown, then we’ll talk price. You also need to keep in mind that once it’s on the ground, I am no longer responsible for it.”
“That goes without saying, Kerrik.” Hartman grinned. “Which is, of course, what makes it so smart to say.” He pulled a pencil out of his satchel. “If you’ll give me back the list, I can break it up right now. I work pretty closely with Carston and have a good idea about how he’d want the supplies allocated.” Kerrik handed back the list without comment and Hartman began scribbling on the back of it, occasionally turning it over to double check some numbers.
Autumn poked Kerrik in the arm. “Now that you’re done talking, it’s been your turn for some time. I just got ten points.”
He looked over the board and placed a domino on the train. “Fifteen.”
The Elfqueen’s lips moved as she silently counted. “Damn. Feel free to go back to ignoring me.” She made a notation on the paper she was using for scoring and then went back to staring at her dominos. Finally she sighed and reached for the bone yard. “I hate this game.”
“Then why do you always want to play it?”
She looked up and suddenly smiled. “Ok, I hate playing it when it’s only you. Misery’s face couldn’t keep a secret if she bricked her mouth shut and I’ve already figured out Raven’s and Morwen’s tells.” The smile faded. “Whisper, on the other hand is almost as bad as you are.”
Hartman was watching with bright eyes. “My girls are competitive too, but they play poker.” He chuckled. “And I have learned the hard way not to play with all of them at once when they’re out for blood. I can’t win. Nobody can.”
Autumn glanced at him. “That’s because when they’re playing with just each other, it’s a harem fight for status and is especially vicious. When someone outside the harem joins in, the game becomes the harem against the outsider. They probably don’t cheat, but they will pick the outsider to ravage before they’ll choose a harem member. Sometimes that even includes their tamer, especially if he has a strong alpha or maharani. Our domino games are the same way, with Kerrik being the potential victim. The fact that he is also out for blood and doesn’t cut us any slack is the only reason he doesn’t get ferreted every time he plays.”
Kerrik’s ears canted. “I think you meant skunked instead of ferreted.”
“I speak English very well. I’m still learning slang, which is different enough that it should be a separate language.” She put a domino down. “Five.”
Kerrik didn’t hesitate and placed one of his. “Ten.”
“Crap!”
Hartman was watching them. “Autumn, you know a lot about pokegirl behavior.”
“No, Kerrik does and I’ve been reading some of his notes. It’s actually very entertaining to see his explanation of behavior I’ve observed and not understood why it happens.” She flashed a grin. “Sometimes it’s behavior I’ve seen in myself and not understood. His insight is scary.” She winced and rubbed her stomach.
“Kerrik, would you be willing to sell that information? Understanding pokegirl behavior could help a lot.”
“One thing at a time, Buck. However, I should point out that a lot of interpreting pokegirl behavior just takes a bit of common sense, especially when talking about ferals. Predators behave like predators and prey animals behave like prey animals. Really dangerous prey animals, but still like prey.”
Autumn gave him an innocent look. “What about pokegirls with reduced feral states?”
“I am not going to fall into that trap.”
Hartman frowned. “What does that mean?”
Autumn looked expectant. “Yes, what does that mean?”
“Bloody hell. When some pokegirls go feral, it’s not as obvious as when most of them do. They are still able to communicate and can use almost their entire repertoire of techniques. They can even make one think they are not feral, at least for a time and may even believe that they are completely sane, so they’re not aware of the danger they present. However, they don’t think like a normal person does and can be rather unpredictable.” He gave Autumn a bland look. She smirked back at him. “You can never be sure what is going to set them off and since they can usually use their full range of attacks they can be very, very dangerous. How’s that?”
Autumn frowned and then nodded. “That’s a good description.”
Buck looked from Kerrik to Autumn. “I’m missing something.”
She nodded. “Yes, you are, but don’t let that stop you from wondering.”
Hartman looked at Kerrik. “Care to explain?”
“It’s Autumn’s story and I get the impression she’s not going to tell it to you.” His ears flicked. “What’s William’s last name?”
“Sanderson.”
“Have you seen a William Sanderson around Austin looking for Autumn or just for an Elfqueen?”
Hartman shook his head. “Nope. Why would he be looking for her?”
“He’s an Indigo and she ran away from him when he wanted to terminate her pregnancy. She’s certain he’ll come to get her back.”
Buck smiled slightly. “After that little episode with Lisa, Carston’s ponytaur, I’ve asked around about Misery and Whisper. I suspect that if Mr. Sanderson makes it out here he won’t ever get back to Indigo.”
Autumn placed another domino. “It sounds like that doesn’t bother you.”
“I’m Catholic. He wanted to kill your babies. I’m also a Texan and you seem like you want to stay here. Someone who thinks it’s perfectly fine to kill pokekits won’t hesitate to try to take you by force and then he’ll get what he deserves.” He eyed Kerrik for a moment. “I’ve also found a pokegirl that says she knows about Raven, assuming she’s the one called four twelve.”
Kerrik looked at his dominos and back up at Hartman. “That was once her name. Now she’s Raven.” Without looking, he played a domino. “Five points.”
“Then William is doomed if he comes here.” Satisfaction was evident in Hartman’s voice. “If I see him in Austin, can I give him directions to your place?”
Autumn burst out laughing. She broke off in mid laugh to groan and kind of curl up. Kerrik reached out and took her hand. “The active labor is starting.”
She recovered and rolled flat, gasping for air. “Wonderful. How long will that last?” Her head came up. “Unless you can say not long, don’t answer that.”
He pulled the table out of the way and picked up her water. “Take a sip. We’ll return to the game later.” She obediently took a drink and he put the cup down. “Now you’ll go pee and then we’ll see what we can see.”
She levered herself upright and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll be so glad when I don’t have to pee every twenty minutes or so.”
Kerrik watched the door shut and glanced at Hartman. “We’ll all be glad of that.”
“You have electricity and running water?”
“We do. I’m going to be looking for someone to help market an organic form of solar panel. Interested?”
Buck grinned. “Hey, I live to start another career.”
(9/12/06 1230, Wolf Lodge, Texas League)
Kerrik led Raven, Misery, Morwen and Whisper into the room and stopped at Autumn’s bed. “Here you go.” They’d fashioned a nest out of blankets and Autumn lay in it, surrounded by four of her elfqueen kits. The fifth was nursing noisily at her breast. “They’re identified by the bracelets on their wrists. The one with the red bracelet is Beth, the orange bracelet is Carol, the yellow one is Deirdre, the green one is Edith and the blue bracelet belongs to Flora, who is being fed.”
Morwen frowned. “Where is Buck?”
“After he was sure that Kerrik wasn’t going to accidentally kill Autumn, I took him back to Austin.” Raven reached for one if the newborns and stopped herself. “They’re all red and wrinkly.”
“That’s what newborns look like. That’ll change in a couple of hours. Are you still determined to help feed them?”
They are our children too.
“Autumn, this is your last chance to change your mind.”
She gave him a weary look. “I need the help and I’d prefer it come from my family and not from my elves when they start showing up.”
We were going to wait until you were ready to go to Haven to get any who still wish to come here, but in light of your delivery, I’ll get them in a few hours. Selene has been informed and has told them to be ready to go.
Kerrik shrugged and nodded towards the table. The dominos were gone and had been replaced by four cups of milk. “Helen left me some milk the other day. Just drink a glass of it and in a little bit you’ll start lactating.”
Morwen perched on the arm of his chair while the other three pokegirls each drained a glass. “I wish I could help with this.”
“The fourth glass is there for you if you want it.”
She gave him a disbelieving look. “I’m still a pokekit. I can’t have sex.”
“This isn’t sex and girls of eleven and twelve were having and nursing children in ancient Rome. It’s by my rule that you will still wait until your birthday to come to my bed, but this is family business and you are welcome to help out if you wish.”
The Vampire started to bounce to her feet and stopped. “Whoops, I almost missed an opportunity to kiss you.” She leaned down and kissed him quickly. “Thank you for letting me help out with the babies.”
“Remember that at three in the morning when you have to get up to help feed our daughters.”
She smiled and slid off the chair’s arm. “Everyone else, including you, will be there too. That’ll help to keep me going.” Quickly she drank her milk.
Kerrik nodded at the wall. “Ok, I’ve got a chart on the wall. You’ll need to put your names on it and note which baby or babies you feed. The idea is to rotate them amongst you all so they all get to feed from Autumn as regularly as possible and so none of you get overly attached to one particular kit. Also, each of you will have a slightly different composition of breast milk and this will allow all the kids to benefit from all the different types. Autumn suggested, and I agreed, that the best way might be if you switch children every day.” He smiled slightly. “Once you’re finished nursing for the first time, we’ll move on to the first poop and diapers.”
(9/12/06 1710, Kingdom of Haven)
The construct vanished and Whisper dropped down to stand near Kerrik, her senses on full alert as Shikarou stepped forward and bowed. “Father.”
Kerrik bowed back. “Hello Shikarou. I wasn’t expecting you here.”
“When we found out you were coming along with Whisper, I thought it might be a good chance for Gwyneth to speak to you.”
Kerrik looked at the blue haired Elfqueen standing beside where Shikarou had been. His ears flicked. “Gwyneth, I don’t want him to force you to parrot his feelings for what happened.”
She smiled and stepped forward, her expensive looking gown rustling softly. “He can’t, but he did have some very good points amid the lecture. Will you accept my apology?”
“Why don’t you trot it out and we’ll see.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly and then relaxed. “You’re right. I shouldn’t ask you to accept what I haven’t yet given. I apologize for presuming that you were one of my subjects and therefore subject to my will. I apologize for giving you orders as if you were one of my subjects instead of asking as your daughter-in-law and your friend.” She hesitated. “I do hope we are still friends, Kerrik.”
“We are still friends, Gwyneth, and I accept your apology. Autumn wasn’t trying to steal your subjects; she was just looking for specific people for her queendom. The ones who want to go will be better off with her and you’ll be better off without them.”
Gwyneth nodded and gave him a slightly wistful look. “Her promises are powerful ones. Do you really intend to build a land of peace?”
“I do. I’ve killed a lot of people over the years and although I know I’ll have to kill more in the future, I do intend to kill as few as possible.”
He’s right. All of us are tired of war and murder. We will still fight for what is ours, but we hope to never have to go looking for a fight.
Shikarou’s ears flicked. “Is such a thing ever possible? We tried that on Caomh Sith and we had to flee here. Now we are surrounded by those who disapprove of the way we treat pokegirls and don’t like us because we’re not human.”
“The Texas League doesn’t care, and even when things are settled with their enemies, they still won’t. It’s not their way.”
Gwyneth frowned. “I don’t know much about them. The Indigos tell us that Texas isn’t really a league, but instead a bunch of rebels.”
“Don’t most new lands come about through either rebellion or flight? The Indigos and the Sunnies divided up Texas for themselves without consulting the people who live there. It just so happens that the Texans don’t think they have that right.”
Shikarou gave him a curious look. “Where do you stand on the issue?”
We have bought land from Texas and not from the Sunshine League. Does that answer your question?
“Will you fight for Texas, Kerrik?” Gwyneth motioned to an Elf who was standing out of earshot. The pokegirl picked up a tray and came forward. “Coffee?”
“Thanks, but I have to get back to Autumn and the kits as soon as possible. And to answer your first question, I’ll fight to protect the land I bought. Will I volunteer to seek out the Sunny forces and make war on them? I haven’t decided yet, but I’m inclined against it. Of course, I own a lot of land to defend and it’s almost on the front lines. Although it’s only about five percent of Haven’s land, it’s a lot for us.”
Shikarou smiled. “Oh, yes, I heard. Congratulations on the kits.”
Gwyneth nodded. “Yes, congratulations on the Elfqueen kits. I haven’t found an appropriate birthing gift yet, but when I do, I’ll contact you before delivering it. Have you thought about fostering them so they’ll get an education at a different kingdom?”
“I thought you didn’t want any foreign borne Elfqueens in Haven.”
“These are just kits and would be perfectly acceptable.”
“I’ll let Autumn know and we’ll have to think about it. I’ll also suggest that once thing settle down she let your kits foster there.”
Gwyneth nodded. “Thank you.” She looked at Shikarou. “I’ll tell the ones who want to go that their ride is here.” She turned and headed away.
Shikarou watched her go before turning back to his father. “Why don’t you move back here?”
“I’m tired of living in a kingdom, and Gwyneth’s attitude is endemic. I’m not doing anyone else’s bidding if I can avoid it and you can’t assure me that I’ll be left alone to my own devices here, can you?”
Shikarou shrugged. “Probably not. The Indigo League, the Sunshine League and the Tropic League all want to open diplomatic communications with us. Edo wants an ambassador too, and they’ve been trying to make noises about your aid to Nippon.”
“You don’t want me as an ambassador, Shikarou. Not only can’t I lie, but I usually don’t bother to sugarcoat my words well enough to keep high level government people’s heads from exploding. As for Edo, they can go fuck themselves. You really don’t want me as an ambassador to China while they’re trying to conquer Nippon.” He cocked his head, his ears flicking. “I gave the emperor’s children, the crown prince and princess of Nippon, my personal blessing.”
Shikarou blinked. “Oh. I’ll ignore Edo then, and keep channels open with Nippon. Gwyneth will understand when I remind her that you still control Duat. Do you intend to use it on Edo?”
“I’m not planning to kill millions of people when their bosses are the ones being jackasses. I’ll just keep supplying Nippon with equipment. If they can’t stay free with that and the jump I gave Naruhito, then I’ll have to decide if I’ll get involved. However, right now I have no plans to vaporize the parts of Edo that come with Chinese names. Edo will eventually realize that the cost of conquering Nippon isn’t worth it and will focus on its poorer, but more easily controlled areas, like Vietnam and Burma. If it neglects those provinces for too long, India will snap them up. On top of that, Ruby is interested in Mongolia, keeping relations strained between it and Edo. Personally I suspect Edo will change its name to something more Chinese in just a very short while.”
Shikarou grinned at Kerrik. “Considering how much time I spent working for the government in a Japan, I’m not sure that pleases me.” His ears rotated. “The emigrants are coming.”
Several pokegirls were headed into the clearing. Kerrik identified Elf, Drow Zee, Avariel, a pair of Ponytaur, a single Rapitaur and a Grandelf. All told there were seventeen of them. Kerrik glanced at Whisper. “Would you take charge of them please? Give them Autumn’s regrets at not being able to be here and a brief overview.”
I’ll take good care of them. Whisper turned to the oncoming pokegirls and her antennae lifted as she blocked Kerrik and Shikarou from the conversation so as not to disturb the pair.
Shikarou watched her idly as the elves changed direction and headed for her. Relief was evident in the expressions of several of them. “She’s very efficient.”
“I’m very lucky that Raven thought highly enough of me to introduce us. She’s an incredible woman.”
A green ear twitched in their direction. Thank you. I think you’re acceptable as well.
Kerrik chuckled. “She’s a little nosey, but I have that same problem. So, how have things been here?”
“Like I said, we’ve been busy with politics. The trade with Indigo is increasing by leaps and bounds. They’re very hungry for pokegirl related equipment.”
“That’s because Texas is putting up a good fight.” He smiled predatorily. “It’s about to get better, too.”
“Do you have a problem with us selling gear to Indigo?”
“Would it matter if I did?”
Shikarou’s ears flicked as he grinned. “No, but I’m curious as to how you feel about the situation.”
“If I had a problem with it, I’d have spoken up. While the fact that the Indigos are using your supplies to pressure the Texans, we need to get this stuff into circulation more than I need to see Texas survive. If Texas loses, I’ll deal with the Sunnies.”
“And if they try to confiscate your land?”
“Then we’ll have a disagreement that’ll have to be reconciled. I’m not moving. I will try not to kill too many of them while they figure out my land isn’t all that nice, but it’s my land and I’ll even pay their taxes if Texas loses.”
“It sounds like you have a vested interest in making sure Texas doesn’t lose.”
Whisper glanced in their direction. We have been discussing that very fact amongst the harem. Even Autumn agrees that to have peace and remain free we may have to go to war.
“She’s right,” Kerrik said quietly. “Thomas Jefferson said it best.”
Shikarou frowned. “The American? I’m not familiar with his words.”
“You might want to do a bit of research. The full quote is: ‘God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.’ It’s a powerful message about the price of being free.”
“You don’t approve of what’s going on here in Haven, do you?”
Kerrik shook his head. “Shikarou, I don’t think this world needs another empire. However, I don’t live here and as long as you allow those who want to leave to do so, it isn’t my business. If you start trying to prevent people from leaving, I’ll tell your mother and let her deal with it.” He smiled. “That keeps me from being the complete villain in the story.”
“Do you intend to use the Texas libertarian movement to introduce something akin to the Tirsuli way of life here?”
“I think the Texans can do that by themselves without needing my help.”
“Then there will eventually be a problem when they start exporting that attitude.”
Kerrik shrugged. “If it’s superior to what you have at that time, you might consider changing over to it. Autumn will provide an example of how Gwyneth’s rule can be changed without her feeling that she’s given up her power.”
“That’s going to be very painful for everyone involved.”
“Sometimes change is that way.”
Kerrik, we are ready to go.
“Sorry, Shikarou, but that was my boarding call.” He bowed to his son. “Be well.”
Shikarou bowed back and stiffened as his father hugged him. “Thanks, dad.”
“While you let Amaterasu shape the way you think about a lot of things, I want you to consider this. She also wanted you to remarry immediately and that was what finally drove you away from her. If you couldn’t tolerate that decision of hers, perhaps you should reexamine some of her other policies,” he smiled, “In your copious amounts of spare time, of course.”
Shikarou’s eyes were troubled. “I think I’ll try to do that. I make no promises, but I’ll try.”
“That’s all I can ask for, my son.”
(9/14/06 0630, Austin, Texas League)
Sally and Lisa chatted in the background as Buck Hartman looked at Carston and nodded towards the others. “Why are they here?”
The third man was tall and rail thin, with a nasty scar across his face that pulled the flesh in strange directions. He turned at the words and shrugged. “Probably for the same reason you are. Yesterday a woman by the name of Raven came by and offered us a business deal if we’d be here this morning.” He held up an arm. Burn tissue covered his arm from the top of the shoulder to the three remaining fingers, proof he’d seen fighting during the war. “She sealed the deal with a working wristwatch.” He stuck out his good hand. “I’m Robert Gilchrist and this pretty Ladyba is Annette. We own Gilchrist and Gilchrist, purveyors of fine goods.”
Buck motioned towards his lifelong friend. “This is Captain Carston Garret and I’m Buck Hartman. Sally is the Chocoboob and the other is Lisa.”
Gilchrist looked at Annette, who gave him an amused look. “Garret is Captain of the Rangers and the other is Postman Buck.”
Robert smiled at his pokegirl. “Annette doesn’t forget anything and so she’s my extra memory.”
Carston nodded. “You two married?”
Robert returned the nod. “We are.”
Garret smiled at them both. “That’s good to hear.” There were no restrictions against marrying pokegirls in Texas, but several churches had made differing pronouncements either for or against the idea. Both he and Buck were Catholic, and the Catholic Church had come out against marrying pokegirls, and that only after they’d narrowly decided that taming wasn’t bestiality. Communication still hadn’t been reestablished with Rome, so there was no idea what the Pope thought about the idea. Lisa was happy enough being his pokegirl and, as far as she was concerned, wife was just another silly word for a job she already had. Carston agreed with her, he just didn’t say anything out loud about it around their priest. He knew that Buck and Sally felt pretty much the same way about the situation and neither felt the need to judge others by standards they accepted for themselves. That kind of behavior was what had led to governments taking rights from citizens throughout history.
Annette pointed with one of her right arms. “What is that?”
A large green and gold shape appeared on the horizon and sped in their direction. It slowed to a hover in front of them. This is Whisper and I am informing all of you that Kerrik Wolf, the person you came to see, is aboard and our intent is peaceful. The construct lowered to the ground and part of it melted into itself to make a hatch.
Inside the construct, Raven fiddled with her chest. “This damned thing itches.”
“You don’t have to wear the bra, but then you’ll soak through your shirt. That, of course, was the reason you wanted the bra in the first place. You’re not used to wearing one so it’s uncomfortable.”
Raven spared the time for a glare at him as she pulled the bra out and shook to settle her breasts into it again. “I still think this is some kind of obscure torture device.”
He shrugged and headed for the hatchway. “You aren’t the first woman to think that.”
She growled softly and followed him outside. “How do you want to divide this up?”
“If we have to, you can deal with Hartman and Garret. I still haven’t met Gilchrist.” He glanced over his shoulder at the construct. “You all right, Whisper?”
I have held my construct for weeks at a time. This is nothing. The Cabbit had dealt with milk leakage from her breasts in her typical irreverent fashion. Since it stained her clothing, she wasn’t going to wear any tops until the kits were weaned.
Kerrik headed for the group and shook hands with everyone, pausing with Gilchrist. “I’m Kerrik Wolf. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Gilchrist, and I hope we can do business.”
Gilchrist nodded politely. “Annette thought it would be a good idea to meet with you. I’ve learned to listen to her when she waves a skillet around.”
Annette gave him a sharp look. “Do you now? I’ll have to start carrying one all the time then.”
Kerrik pulled a sheet of paper from his shirt pocket. “Here’s the manifest for you, Buck.” Behind him, part of the construct vanished to leave several cases resting on the ground. “I presume you want to inventory the cases?”
Hartman nodded. “I do.” He took the list and headed towards the cases, waving Sally to him as he did.
Kerrik gave Garret a curious look and the man smiled briefly. “Oh, I’m going to give Buck a hand, but I wanted to have a word with you first.” He looked at Gilchrist. “Could we have a moment?”
Kerrik glanced at his maharani. “Raven, could you show the Gilchrists the samples we brought for them?”
Raven made a show of adjusting his collar, verifying that the com link was in place so she could listen to the conversation through it as well as her link. “I’d be glad to. This way please.” She led the Gilchrists towards the construct as a smaller section disappeared.
Kerrik turned to Garret. “What do you want?”
“I understand you’ve got a pretty powerful harem and that” he glanced at Kerrik’s hat, “you have some unusual abilities yourself. I’ve got a problem and I was hoping you could help with it. I don’t have any Rangers in El Paso right now. Most of the ones who have the ability to do the job are off fighting the leagues. The others don’t have the sand to get the job done. I was wondering if you’d like the job.”
“I’m building a home and I don’t know how much free time I’ll have.”
“I understand, but being a Ranger isn’t a full time job for many of them and right now I’ll take the help I can get. All you’ll need to do is keep in touch with me and send me information about the area. Once in a while you may need to go to El Paso to deal with someone stupid enough to break one of our few laws, but most of the time people are pretty reasonable about them. The pay isn’t anything to dance in the street about, and I doubt you’ll really need it, but I need the help and your pokegirls are damned tough from what I’ve heard. They might like the occasional scrap.” He gave Kerrik an earnest look. “Will you help me and your new home?”
Kerrik’s ears flicked and he looked thoughtful. I think it would be a wonderful idea, and so do Raven and Misery. Morwen wants to know if it means she gets a uniform and Autumn says she can ask if some of her elves want to help out.
“Apparently the vote is in. I’ll take the job with the understanding that I can quit at any time without reason.”
“That’s the same rules I have,” Garret said with a grin. He produced a badge from his pocket. “Here you go, Ranger Wolf.”
Kerrik looked at it like it was a serpent for several seconds before taking it. “I’d like to say that gee, I didn’t get you anything, but I actually did.”
Garret blinked. “Oh?”
“Please come with me.” Raven, please get the others to the samples bay. He led Garret and Lisa to a section of the construct where the Gilchrists, Hartman and Sally were already waiting.
Hartman gave him a puzzled smile. “I don’t mind the delays, but you did say you wanted to keep your time in any delivery spot to a minimum. What’s this about?”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “In this case, I have a good reason for taking a little more time here.” He moved to a small collection of wooden boxes and picked one up. “This is for you, Buck, and there’s one here for everyone else.”
Buck opened the case while Raven was handing them out to the others. “I don’t recognize this pistol.”
“It’s a production model of the ones I’m wearing. That is a 10mm recoilless pistol that uses caseless ammunition.”
Annette frowned as she looked at the box she held. “How recoilless is recoilless?”
“You can fire them in flight without any problems,” Raven said cheerfully. “The 15mm has a kick to it, but not the 10.” She nodded towards her tamer. “Kerrik carries 15s, but there’s not much of a difference in the operation between the two weapons. We also brought five hundred rounds of ammunition for each of you.”
Robert Gilchrist looked unconvinced. “What’s the catch?”
Kerrik grinned. “There isn’t one. I’ll be manufacturing these in small numbers and selling them, hopefully through you and Annette in Austin. These are gifts because I know that nothing sells like word of mouth. So if you like them, please tell your friends. Hell, tell your enemies.”
Sally chuckled. “I won’t tell them, but the ones that survive having my new toy used on them might be interested in getting one of their own.”
Raven smirked. “Yeah, we’ve already had that happen.”
“What’s that in caliber?” Buck hefted his pistol. “I’d like to know for comparison.”
Kerrik started handing out cases of ammunition. “The ten converts to .44 caliber while the fifteen would be .67. Both use pretty high powered rounds that provide a lot of KE to the target. It’s got illuminated post sights and there’s an integral laser sight with a solar powered battery that’ll provide a week of power before needing recharged.” His ears flicked. “The charger is in the case. The ammunition is multipurpose, combining a light armor piercing capability with the expansion of a hollow point. I’ve also got some specialty ammunition types that I’ll offer to see if anyone is interested.”
Garret gave him a speculative look. “What do you use?”
Kerrik blinked. “I use an explosive round that I’m not sure I’m going to market. Once they know it can be done, someone will figure out a way to do it. I think I’d rather that be a goad for someone else to make things. Let me say this again. I do not intend to be the manufacturing monopoly of Texas. What I want to do is bootstrap the manufacturing capabilities of others so they can get back to producing. To that end, I’m willing to partner with people looking to start businesses.”
Garret nodded. “Thanks for the gift. Lisa’s too.” There was a murmur of thank you from the others. “Will you be providing other ammunition types?”
“If someone will give me a list and an estimate on usage, I’ll consider it. I don’t expect firearms to be as big an industry as it once was, if only because pokegirls are a very nice alternative.”
Robert Gilchrist smiled slyly. “I had to sleep with my weapon in the Corps, and Annette much nicer than my rifle ever was.”
The Ladyba smacked him lightly. “You hush.” In spite of her words, the sparkle in her eyes suggested the compliment was still appreciated.
Hartman looked at Sally. “Let’s finish this inventory.” He handed half his paperwork to a surprised Garret. “We’ve got twenty tons of supplies to inventory, you government slave. Get to work.”
(9/14/06 0800, Mexico City, Sunshine League)
General Brigadier Jose Rafael Villareal Garcia looked at the situation map in the Sunshine League Defense Force headquarters and considered how far things had fallen since the Red Plague had destroyed the world. Once upon a time the map would have been digital instead of paper and the icons wouldn’t be moved around by underlings. The situation room was considered too sensitive for pokegirls to be allowed in. “Capitan Hidalgo, what is the status of the Green battalion?”
Hidalgo looked up from his station, which was covered with tiny slips of paper. He searched through them before looking up. “General, we have just received yesterday’s dispatches. They’re still bivouacked south of the border with Texas and haven’t had any contact with the rebels. El Paso seems to still be unaware of their presence after they managed to lose contact with the tamer forces in the area. Intelligence suggests that the rebels think the battalion retreated to the south after they lost it. Their undisciplined forces have moved out of position to pursue it.”
Villareal examined the map. His staff had gamed out the possible scenarios and all of them said that a lightning strike to take the rebel capital was the best use for the largest military unit the Sunshine League’s forces could still muster. It was time to act. “Inform Coronel Rodolfo Tomas Navarette Ruiz that he is to execute Operation Liberacion immediately. I want his forces on the move just as soon as possible.”
The Capitan straightened to attention. “Yes, General. The message will go out with the evening dispatches. The Coronel will have the orders in the morning.”
Kerrik Wolf
Harem
Raven: Archmage
Whisper: Cabbit
Misery: Mini-top
Morwen: Vampire pokekit
Autumn: Elfqueen