Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
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Five
(07/10/06 0800 Falmouth, Tropic League)
Shima twisted her around to look over her shoulder at Caradoc. “Do you want to swing by the farm on the way and see if the dracass is still there?” She was back in her centaur form and the packs had been more carefully strapped to her back this morning.
He shook his head. “No, she’s either there or gone and we’re not going to fight her now. I’d prefer to capture her and, if we do, we’ll have to take her to Montego. That’s kind of completely opposite to the direction I want to travel today.”
Naomi came out of the house. “Sir, I did a final sweep and we’re not leaving anything behind.”
“Good. The night pokegirls should be bedded down by now. Let’s get moving.”
They made much better time and reached the outskirts of Claremont before sundown. Naomi looked around and changed directions. “This way.” She led them to a house and stopped in front of it. Caradoc smiled when he recognized where they were.
The elfqueen looked at Shima. “This is it. This is where we first met.”
“This is where Winona was born?” The nightmare gave her a startled look before turning a suddenly hesitant face to Caradoc. “May I see it?” She sighed in relief when she realized he was already undoing the packs.
While offloading them, he looked at Naomi. “Clear the house. Be careful.” She nodded and pulled an arrow from her quiver as she slipped inside the building. He dumped the backpacks on the ground and patted Shima on the back. “Ok, you’re all set.”
The nightmare changed back to her human form. “They itch.” She shook her head and gave him a coy look when he offered her the black dress. “Don’t you like my body?”
He chuckled and put the dress back in his pack. “It’s very nice.”
She preened until Naomi reappeared. “The building is clear.” The elfqueen looked Shima up and down and chuckled. “You weren’t dressed before, even if you don’t remember it, so I suppose it only makes sense that you aren’t now.”
Emotions swept across Shima’s face as she worked to decide what her alpha had meant. Finally, she apparently settled on disgruntled and stomped inside. Naomi looked in his direction just in time to catch him shaking his head. “Sir?”
“Do you really have to be so catty to her? She’s not going to replace you.”
“She thinks she is.”
He looked up to meet her eyes as she stood in front of him. “She’s wrong.”
Naomi glanced at the doorway. “Should I run around without clothes on, too?”
Caradoc grinned. “I wouldn’t mind. Of course, I wouldn’t get much done, either. I’d be too busy watching you.”
She flashed a smile that just made her more beautiful. “Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I need to keep your attention.” She took his hand and led him inside.
Shima was standing in the doorway to the bedroom. The bedding where she’d given birth had been shredded and strewn around the room. Even the floor beneath where she’d lain had been torn up, revealing the dirt foundation underneath. Naomi gave her a sympathetic smile when the nightmare turned to look at her. “Without Master Caradoc, you’d have been too weak to stop whatever came here looking for food. Without us, both you and Winona would be dead now.”
Shima stared at the bedding for a long time, clutching her child to her. She turned and looked in Naomi’s eyes. “I owe you and Caradoc the life of both myself and my daughter’s. I don’t know how I will ever repay you.”
“I don’t suppose you could stop trying to usurp my place?”
The nightmare shook her head. “I’m not sure I can. You are well suited to be in charge, but I want that job for myself.” Her teeth bared briefly in a silent snarl. “Not that I feel I can do it better than you, but because it isn’t mine.”
Caradoc wrapped an arm around the waist of both girls and pulled them against him. “Nobody’s perfect.” They leaned against him for a second before he released them. “This is the past. Both you and Winona lived and someday you can tell her all about it. Now we need to face the future.” He flashed a smile. “In this future, Shima will try to take Naomi’s place and it won’t work. Naomi will,” he paused, “do whatever she’s going to do and I’ll have to respond to it as well. Someday Winona will learn to walk and I’m sure that will be an adventure in and of itself.” He frowned. “I wonder if she’ll be able to phase then. That could make disciplining her rather difficult.”
“What about you, sir?”
“I’ll be building a farm and working to keep out from under the thumb of the Tropic League officials. That should keep me more than busy enough.” He patted each woman on the rump. “Now, let’s get out of here. Bog Walk awaits us.”
(07/10/06 1000 Bog Walk, Tropic League)
William looked up as Caradoc stopped in front of him. “I see you’re back.” He didn’t sound like this event was a cause for celebration. His eyes flickered to Naomi and then to Shima. “Where’s your elf?”
Caradoc gestured towards Naomi. “She evolved. Where is Mr. Manley?”
“I’ll tell him you’re back. Do you want anything else with him?”
“Yes.”
William’s eyes narrowed. “Care to tell me?”
“I have to tell him first. I’m sure you’ll hear about it.”
Cerise, William’s slutton, shifted restlessly behind him. “Sir, Mr. Manley is at your farm.”
William twisted around in his chair to glare at her as Caradoc nodded. “Thank you, Cerise. William. Ladies, let’s go.”
The shack looked like he remembered it, but it was no longer home. A slightly sad look on Naomi’s face suggested she felt it too, and she gave him a wan smile when he took her hand and squeezed it. “It wasn’t home for long, sir, but it was where I met you. I owe you my life just as much as Shima does.”
He nodded. “You’ve saved me, too, so don’t let it worry you. Let’s find Manley and get this over with. If we work at it we can spend the night in Claremont and get back to Montego tomorrow.”
Manley was at the great grape bushes with a strangely stiff looking Kathy. She was wearing a large bundle of dirty linen as improvised bandages around her middle. An unhappy Amelia watched from a short distance away as he fed the tigress a great grape. Kathy visibly relaxed. Manley peeked under the bandages, shook his head and reached for another healing berry. He looked up when he heard footsteps. “Bishop. After Commander Jordan sent an investigator, I wondered if you’d ever return.” His gaze flicked to the two pokegirls flanking Caradoc and his eyes narrowed slightly. “Who are they?”
Amelia cocked her head and a smile appeared. “Naomi got her wish. Welcome back, Master Bishop.”
Caradoc gave Amelia a half bow and looked at Manley. “Naomi evolved to elfqueen and that’s Shima. Her child is Winona.”
Amelia’s eyes lit up. “A baby.”
“Back, woman.” Shima glared at the human as she shifted her child to one arm. “I do not know you.”
Naomi took Amelia’s hand. “How about you meet Shima first, Mrs. Henry? Then we’ll see about Winona.”
Manley glanced at Caradoc with humor in his eyes. “Whatever she is, your Shima needs to learn some manners.”
“Mr. Manley, can I look at Kathy’s wounds?” When Manley nodded, Caradoc peeled the bandages far enough to see the wound. “It’ll heal cleaner if I suture the wound together. The berries need something to work with and right now they don’t have anything. Shima, get Naomi’s medical kit.”
The elfqueen shrugged out of her backpack and handed it to Shima without slowing her quiet conversation with Amelia. The nightmare dug out a satchel made out heavy canvas and handed it to Caradoc, who was looking at Kathy. “Well?”
She looked at Manley. “Sir, Master Bishop has been right so far.”
Manley nodded. “Do it.”
“Shima.”
The nightmare stepped up and stared the tigress in the face. Kathy’s eyes rolled up in her head and she slumped. As she crumpled, she was caught by Shima, who lowered her to the ground. “She’s unconscious.” Her eyes flicked in Manley’s direction and returned to her tamer. “Sir.”
Manley was busy glaring at Caradoc, who shrugged. “I don’t have any anesthetic, John, and I don’t see any reason for her to hurt while I treat her.”
Manley glanced at Amelia. “We’re not in private, Bishop.” He sighed. “You’re right about Kathy, though. Next time, I want a warning before you do something like that to my pokegirls.”
“Yes, Mr. Manley.” Caradoc peeled the bandages off of the tigress’ torso and cocked his head as he examined the gaping hole she had in her side. “Ok, let’s see what I can do.” He unzipped the standard issue first aid kit he’d received from Alex in Montego Bay and began working. “Shima, give me two great grapes.” To take Manley’s mind off of what was happening, he decided to ask. “What happened to her?”
Manley was staring at his tigress’ injury and Caradoc had to ask the question again before he blinked and looked up. “A feral pokegirl tunneled into Bog Walk and killed someone bringing fruit into town. Kathy got sliced up while we were capturing it. You can help her, right?”
Caradoc threaded a curved needle and began expertly sewing the hole closed, using a basic two handed square knot. “Did you send the capture off to Kingston?”
“Yeah. That’s why Rachel isn’t around. So, are you staying?”
Bishop didn’t look up. “No, we’re not. Jordan will be sending a tamer to replace me, so you’ll still have the addition to your forces. I’d suggest sending a message to him as soon as Rachel gets back if you have a specific request.” He glanced up at Manley. “The berry bushes will thrive if you just protect them and Montego needs them, too. Besides, your tamers really don’t like me and my leaving will probably calm things down.”
Manley nodded unconsciously. “You’re probably right. I got in another shipment of civilians and four new tamers came with them. I can detail a patrol to keep an eye on this farm without too much trouble. So why did you come back?”
“I told you I would. Besides, while most of my stuff probably belongs to the township, I do have some personal items I’d like to get.” He glanced at Naomi and Amelia. “And I’ve got a delivery to make.” He finished stitching the wound closed and looked up at Shima. “The berries, please.” He took one and crushed it over the wound. Flesh melted back together, leaving a thin scar. “She’ll be stiff and you’ll need to make her work this side more to get her strength back, but she should make a complete recovery.” He pulled a scalpel out of the kit and began cutting stitches. “I tried to keep the scar as small as possible, but I’m not a doctor and it’s not perfect.” The stitches pulled away cleanly, leaving a thin, jagged scar in the purple-dyed skin. Caradoc handed the second berry back to Shima. “I don’t need this one.” She nodded and popped it into her mouth.
“I’m just glad she’s going to be ok.” Manley gave him a weak grin. “Thanks, Bishop.”
“She should wake up in a couple of minutes.” Caradoc began putting stuff back into the kit, dropping the needle and scalpel into a tube of alcohol before packing them away. “If she got some foreign material in the wound, she will have some discomfort for a while, but I looked and couldn’t see anything.”
“You sound like a doctor.”
“I’ve had lots of opportunities for stuff like this and I doubt living here in Tropic will let those skills atrophy.” He pushed to his feet and stretched.
“So where did you get your other pokegirl?”
“I picked her up on the way to Montego.” He looked at Manley. “Jordan knows about her and he knows that I didn’t have her here.”
“Are you warning me that if I try to take her you’ll go running to Jordan?”
“No, I’m pointing out that he didn’t see any reason to take her.”
Manley snorted. “Sure you are. Don’t worry; I don’t think anyone here is ready to be promoted to two pokegirls. Congratulations on the capture.”
“Thanks.” Bishop looked down as Kathy started stirring and squatted next to her. “How do you feel?”
“Better, Master Bishop.” The tigress rolled to her feet and twisted slowly. “I’m a little stiff, but much better. Thank you, sir.” She turned to her tamer. “Ready for duty, sir.”
Manley nodded and clapped Caradoc on the shoulder. “Good job, Bishop. You will talk to me again before you leave.” It wasn’t a request.
“Yes, Mr. Manley.” Caradoc didn’t have any reason to try and aggravate the administrator. “I’ll try to get there later today.” He watched as Manley led his tigress away and then looked around for Naomi and Amelia, who’d wandered off. “Shima, let’s find Naomi.”
He found the two women sitting in front of his shack. Amelia looked him up and down. “Naomi tells me you’re leaving. Why?”
“This place will prosper under your care, the shack is too small for the four of us and I can do more there.” He dug into his pack and pulled out the Bible. “I think I got lucky. I found a new one for you.”
Amelia took it carefully as she gave him an amused look. “It wasn’t luck, it was God’s will. He knew what I needed and made sure you could bring it to me. Thank you.” She looked at the book and sighed. “Naomi thinks you can help more people where you’re going, too. I know I should forgive the tamers for killing my brother, but I can’t find it in my heart to do so. Now you’re leaving and we’ll be alone again.” She took a deep breath and looked up at him. “You, I can tolerate. Can we come with you? We can keep your land just as we did here.”
Caradoc started to say no, but paused when his brain ground into motion. “I don’t know the situation very well, but the fact that they evicted you from your home and forced you here suggests you aren’t free to leave of your own will. However, if you would like, I will ask Manley if he’ll release you to me. He got in more people while we were gone and I know you and your kids despise him and the other tamers for what they did. I’ll try to convince him that making you stay will just result in violence one of these days. If he’ll let you go, he gets rid of prospective troublemakers and you can be more loyal to the league. Considering that the league needs every tamer it can get and they’ll want your son to become one someday; forcing Richard to hate the league isn’t a good way to make the best use of the resource he represents. Giving someone like that a pokegirl, which is after all a powerful weapon, is insane. Manley is many things, but he’s not mad. He’ll understand my reasoning.”
Amelia stared into his eyes before shaking her head as she looked away. “I want to believe you, but I’m afraid to hope for anything anymore.”
“I’m not making any promises. I’ll do my best, however.” His tone turned serious. “If you do go with me, it’ll be a lot of hard work, probably a lot more than here.”
“I’m not afraid of hard work, Caradoc and neither are my children. That’s all we’ve known since the war. The plagues just made it worse.”
He chuckled. “I’d better convince Manley. You’re too disrespectful for your own good.”
“I have one master, Caradoc, and He wrote this book.” She tapped the Bible firmly with a finger. “I’ll call no man the title that only He deserves.”
“That’s fair enough. The Wolf teaches that we cannot be subordinated unless we allow it and that we should only allow it with those we trust.” He rubbed his hair. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to the river to get cleaned up before I go see Manley and plead your case. Ladies, care to keep me company?”
(07/11/06 1215 Bog Walk, Tropic League)
Naomi frowned in the darkness. “There’s someone or something at the shack,” she said quietly as she readied her bow. “A bit of light should help. Shima, watch our master.” The arrow struck the ground in front of the figure and burst into flames, illuminating the area.
Amelia jerked upright with a gasp and stared wildly around her. Caradoc trotted forwards so she could see him in the light. “Good morning. Why are you here?”
“I was waiting for you.” The woman stretched, yawning. “What did Manley say?”
“Honestly? His response was ‘good riddance’. It clears the way for him to claim this farm for himself. I think he’s been looking for a way to do that since he found out how valuable the berries are going to be.”
Amelia stared at him with dawning wonder in her eyes. “He said yes? When do we leave?”
“You’ll leave when we get back. I need to go to Montego first and let Commander Jordan know what’s happening and then we’ve got to evict someone from our home if she’s still there.” He smiled at her curious expression. “We’ve picked out a place already but a feral attacked us there. She may be living there, so she’ll have to go.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t expect to be gone more than three days. Can you be ready to go when we get back?”
Amelia nodded. “We can be ready to go this morning, if you’d like.”
“I don’t want you around when we have to fight the feral. There may be a lot of collateral damage and I don’t want you or your children getting hurt.”
“I understand.” She got up tiredly. “Then I’ll be off to my home. When you return, we’ll be waiting.”
He watched her head off before shaking his head. “I’ve got to go to the river for a few minutes. Shima, you and Winona get ready for bed, we’ll be right back.” He grabbed the shovel from where it leaned against the house and headed off.
Naomi gave him a curious look as they approached the river. “This couldn’t wait until morning?”
“No. I’ve got to retrieve the beacon that the wet elf buried here so we can take it with us and that’s something I really don’t want to do when Amelia and the others might see it.”
I have the beacon. Turn to the right. More. A little bit more. Right there. Now continue forward slowly. Caradoc followed his twee’s instructions to a muddy part of the riverbank. He cast about as it used him to triangulate on the beacon, finally coming to a halt. The beacon is right below you, approximately one and a half meters down.
“Naomi, I have to do some digging, so please keep an eye out.”
“Yes, sir, I will.” The elfqueen nodded and began watching their surroundings more closely as Caradoc drove the shovel into the soil. He dug into the soft muck, quickly working his way down to where the beacon was located. The beacon was designed for use on worlds with technology below that of the Tirsuli Confederation and the exterior would partially decompose to take on the look of the surroundings. In this case, the casing had darkened and now looked like a water battered rock the size of a cantaloupe. I’ve established contact with the beacon and uploaded our mission data so far. Do you have anything to add before I send the report?
“Yes. Add that, so far, my investigations have revealed no signs of animosity to the Kingdom of Haven, at least among the lower ranks of the Tropic League tamer’s community. If the league were planning military operations, it would make sense if some kind of propaganda program to demonize Haven were already in operation. However, it could be a secret operation that will only use selected assets and so such a program might not be implemented, at least not on a public scale. Investigations are ongoing at this time.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“Naomi, I’ve got, for a lack of a better term, a computer in my head that can communicate with the beacon. It was asking if I had anything to add to the report it’s going to send.”
Naomi didn’t cease her surveillance. “What does what you said mean, sir?”
“According to my experience, if one group is considering organized hostilities with another group, they tend to create a propaganda machine to trumpet the reasons they feel that they need attack the second group. This propaganda helps to convince the common folk that the second group needs attacked and predisposes them to dislike or even hate the members of the second group. This is important because the common folk usually provide at least some of the troops that will be in the attack and makes them think they’re dying in a good cause. It also helps to explain any civilian sacrifices that the leadership decides are necessary.”
“Sir, what reasons can the Tropic League use to convince its people to fight Haven? According to what we know, they haven’t done anything.”
Caradoc smiled mirthlessly. “Well, the Tropic League sent a small expedition to Haven to colonize it and presumably put some claim on the island since it was uninhabited. I understand that casualties were extremely low in the confrontation and that anyone who wanted to return to the Tropic League was given transport; but just the fact that Haven occupies land that the Tropic League administration feels belongs to it may be a good enough reason to the administration.”
“Sir, there aren’t enough people for this island and we’ve heard that the situation is the same on the other islands of the Tropic League. Why would they want another?”
“Greed doesn’t have to be reasonable, Naomi. Haven also has access to some oil reserves off of its coast and the Tropic League may want to claim those.”
She frowned. “Could it be that we haven’t found any propaganda about Haven because they don’t have anything bad to say about it?”
Caradoc looked faintly surprised. “That’s a very mature way to think and not one I’d expect from an Earthling. I’m pleased to hear you think in an adult fashion, but the fact is that if a government wants to demonize someone, they seldom let a lack of evidence stand in their way. Lies are just another weapon in the arsenal of most governments and the more powerful they are, the larger number of lies they think they can tell others and be believed. The lies also often become more fantastic in scope.”
“Like what?”
“They could say that the people of Haven eat children or they’re out to kill all the fertile human women and destroy the human race.” He picked up the beacon and rinsed it off in the river before trying to tuck it into his pocket. “Crap, it’s too big.”
“Give it here.”
“And where are you going to put it? That dress doesn’t have pockets.” He put the beacon on a rock and began digging a line from the hole to the river.
“Sir, what are you doing now?”
“If I let the water in, it’ll destroy any evidence that something was buried here. Anyone looking will probably figure that a feral did something strange and dismiss it as one of those oddities that nobody can explain.”
“Are you from Haven?”
“No, I’m not. I work for the king of Haven, but I’m from somewhere else.” He glanced at her. “I’m from another world.”
The elfqueen’s emerald eyes widened in surprise. “I wasn’t aware that humans traveled the stars.”
“They don’t here.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Imagine a book. It’s filled with pages that are all separated, yet all are bound together through the glue and the thread stitching and they all can touch each other through the spine. If someone lived on a particular page, they could, in theory, travel across the spine to a different page and in essence move there. If you then visualize the pages as discrete universes, then you have an idea of where I’m from. Sukebe reportedly traveled the universes gathering genetic material to create his pokegirl breeds.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that, sir, that kind of information was way above my security level.” She frowned prettily. “Does this explain how you know so much about us?”
“Kind of. Shikarou, the king of Haven, and some the others there came here from a world a lot like this one. However, the point in time that they came from was roughly three hundred years in the future from now. For that whole time, scientists have been gathering information on pokegirls in order to protect humans from them and to help integrate them into human life.”
She nodded. “Are they slaves there, too, like the Tropic League treats them?”
“I haven’t been there, but that’s what I understand the situation to be. There, the leagues have worked together to keep pokegirls under control, and there have been a few pokegirl related atrocities that helped them to stay in power. There were some uprisings and a couple of pretty bad massacres; that and the fear of the menaces.”
“Menaces?”
“Pokegirls that actively prey on humans to an extent that terrifies the humans are called menaces. The breeds commonly called menaces include the leviathaness and mantis breeds, along with the panthress and widow.”
Naomi shuddered. “I don’t know anything about the last two, but the first ones don’t just eat humans. When I was with my unit, we got attacked by some hungry mantis pokegirls. They killed several of us before we killed them.”
“My understanding is that one of the reasons they’re so feared is because they’re unrelenting killers who prey on everything around them. It’s part of what defines a menace from the feral pokegirls who can also be threats.” He cut into the shore and watched water race back along his trench to fill the hole. “I don’t know if this makes you feel better, but I know that Haven is aware of their potential for destruction and is taking steps to combat them at every turn.”
“I’ve seen a leviathaness in action. How do you deal with that?”
He shrugged. “I understand that high yield low fallout nuclear weapons have been employed against them. I don’t know what’s being done about the mantis.”
“Sir, don’t they have spies in Haven?”
“I’m sure they have people who can do that, why?”
“You haven’t explained why you came to this world and I’m trying to find out.”
“Oh, that. I’m here because I’m alone and I wanted a new start. My family lived in one of the asteroid belts in the system. It was kind of like living on a water-going ship; we moved from place to place and made our living on what we found there. One day, some people sent out a distress signal and we went to help them.” Naomi watched as his face stilled and something in his eyes died. Suddenly she regretted her question. “Some of my family went aboard their ship to render aid and then the people in the ship launched a sneak attack on the rest of us. At one point, they employed ship-to-ship weapons on our home and I got trapped in the wreckage from the hit.” He gave her a blank look that reminded her of some of the shell shocked people she’d seen during the war. “By the time I cut my way free it was over. The pirates had taken control of our ship, our home. They were from a very insular family and they didn’t want any of the prisoners they’d taken. They executed the survivors by ejecting them into space before they looted our ship. I’m sure they would have destroyed the ship afterwards to cover their tracks, but while they were looting, a clan Wolf vessel appeared and destroyed them.”
He rolled the beacon in his hands. “I don’t owe the Wolf clan anything for what they did, but space didn’t appeal to me anymore. When I heard that they were involved in the development of a new world, I came here to build a new family and to pay whatever debt I may think I have to them.”
“Can pokegirls be part of this new family?”
“You have broken bread with me and honored me with your body. You’ve asked for protection and care in return and I have agreed to provide you with that.” His eyes met hers in the dim light from her illumination spell. “Naomi, you are already a member of my family.”
She blinked back sudden tears. “Thank you, Caradoc.”
He tucked the beacon under his arm and hugged her with the other one. ‘You’re more than welcome. Now, let’s get back to the house. I’d like to get a couple of hours sleep before we get on the road.”
(07/11/06 0830 Falmouth, Tropic League)
The dracass released a thunderbolt into the river and watched as stunned fish floated to the surface. She took wing and swept out over the water to collect the biggest ones for her daily meal. Once back on shore, she began stripping the indigestible scales from her prizes. Her body shimmered and she suddenly appeared as a young woman with sandy blonde hair.
She’d driven off or killed any pokegirls in the area that might be threats; she didn’t bother to return to her lair to feed, enjoying the sunlight on her skin while she ate.
The blunt took her in lower back and she squalled as it knocked her onto her pile of fish. She bellowed rage as she rolled to her feet and spun to face the direction the attack had come from. In the middle of her fields, she spotted a black figure and red rimmed her gaze when she recognized the intruder that she’d run off the day before.
She shimmered again as she changed back to her battle form. Her head dropped and her wings spread as she roared a challenge and launched a hyperbeam in the same instant.
Her opponent sidestepped the beam neatly and the dracass used a trick she’d learned during the war to keep the beam going as she twisted her neck and hosed the deadly attack sideways. It hit Shima in the flank of her centaur form and knocked her sprawling as the beam hissed by overhead.
Shima rolled to her feet and cursed quietly when she realized that her right hind leg wouldn’t hold her weight. She quickly changed her plans from attack to defense and a black nimbus erupted around her as she used cocoon of darkness to begin healing. Mentally, she laughed to herself as the dracass immediately began charging another hyperbeam. Dragons are so predictable and she’s given me time. Wrong move, sister.
The ice beam took the dracass in the chest. The penetrating cold dug deeply into the dragon, sending waves of pain through her that were so strong they caused her vision to dim, leaving her barely able to see as she released her next hyperbeam attack. It missed.
The dracass charged, seeking to close with her enemy and releasing a thunderbolt as she closed to bring her superior strength to bear. Shima squealed in pain as the thunderbolt pulsed down her side while she tried to whirl away. A tiny ball that drank the light around it appeared in the nightmare’s right hand and grew until it was the size of a softball. Energy flared as she launched it at the dracass. The dark bomb landed directly in front of the dragon and exploded, sending her flying backwards.
The dracass spread her wings to keep her balance and sprinted forward, energy coalescing around her as she charged up for a dragon rage attack. Naomi’s second blunt shaft took her in the wing joint. The dracass screamed in pain as muscles tore and she folded her wings protectively against further attacks.
Shima tested her injured leg and grinned when this time it took her weight. Instantly, she blurred forward. Her skin rippled and a fluid seemed to pour out of it, covering her body with a flexible dull black armor that grew tiny points all over it. Even her head disappeared inside a tough looking helmet that became a horned horse’s skull. She was still accelerating when she slammed into the dracass with her double edge attack.
The dracass’ own armor saved her life, but the impact caused her to actually fold around the heavier nightmare when Shima hit her before bouncing away in what looked almost like flight; at least until she crashed into the ground and slid in a cloud of dust and grass.
She was muzzily getting to her feet when Shima hit her again. This time she didn’t move when she hit the ground.
(07/11/06 0900 Falmouth, Tropic League)
Caradoc handed Winona to her newly healed mother with a jaunty smile. “She didn’t cry when I held her, but she definitely prefers you over me.”
“I am her mother. I feed her and she knows my scent.” The nightmare watched as Naomi finished tightening the chains around the dracass. “I am concerned about those holding. If she gets free while I am flying, I will not try to catch her before she hits.”
The elfqueen pulled a pouch from her backpack and tied it to her belt. “You needn’t worry. In her human form, you are stronger than she is.” She pulled a pinch of seeds from the pouch and put it in the ground next to the unconscious dracass. Sturdy looking vines sprouted and, over the next minute, grew up the chain, intertwining through the links. Then the roots died back and the vines came free from the soil. “These will more than double the strength of her bindings and that means she couldn’t break them even if she did manage to transform to her dragon form.”
Caradoc picked up the dracass and draped her over Shima’s back. “I think a pack harness is moving up in our priority lists. The question is where we would get leather from, although I guess it could be made of canvas.”
“Sir, do you want me to remain here while you deal with Commander Jordan?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want you left alone. Besides, I can’t guarantee that Jordan will let us move all the way out here.”
Naomi nodded. “Yes, sir. Do you want to search the house before we leave?”
“No, we’ll come back even if he doesn’t let us stay here. This place was a functional farm and it should have a lot of stuff we can use, no matter where we end up living.” He finished lashing the dracass to Shima’s back. “I think you need to sit between me and our prisoner in case she starts flailing around.”
(07/11/06 1100 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Tamer Allen Jones leaned back in his chair and sipped his fruit drink as he watched the people moving past the TLCFHQ (Tropic League Constabulary Force Headquarters) in Montego Bay. “Sir, are you ready for to have your drink refreshed?” He handed the glass to his ladyba without looking as she opened up the cooler of ice.
“Sir, the tamer from Bog Walk is back. Master Caradoc Bishop.” A slender arm pointed over his head.
He blinked at the sight. “What kind of pokegirl is that walking beside him?”
“That’s a nightmare, sir. I haven’t seen one of them since the war.”
“Are they rare?”
“Sir, they’re more than rare.” Her voice caught. “He’s got another pokegirl trussed up on the nightmare’s back and she’s tied up like she’s very dangerous.”
“Do you recognize her?”
“No, sir; she looks human from here.”
Jones sighed and sat up straight as the other tamer approached. “We really need a foolproof way to identify strange pokegirls.”
“I understand that someone is working on a book and I’ve heard a rumor about some kind of computer system being used in the Indigo League, sir.”
“I hadn’t heard that.” Jones got up as Shima pulled to a halt. “Tamer Bishop, it’s good to see you today. What kind of pokegirl is that?”
“It’s a dracass, Tamer Jones. She’s a present for Commander Jordan.”
Jones stared. “That’s a dragon type, isn’t it? Why aren’t you keeping her for yourself?”
“I’m going to be growing berry bushes. I don’t really have a use for something so combat oriented.”
“You’re a tamer, for all that’s holy, and your job is to tame pokegirls. Besides, you never know when a feral might attack and then you’ll need combat pokegirls.”
“I’ve got two good pokegirls now.” Caradoc shrugged. “I still don’t want her.”
Naomi tugged experimentally on the bindings holding the dracass in place. “Sir, we can’t leave her alone in case she tries to get free. How are we going to get a message to Commander Jordan about your gift?”
“I could carry her up to his office,” Shima suggested. “Then there isn’t a problem anymore.”
Jones went white. “No, you can’t. It might get loose in the building. I’ll send someone up to tell him. Leslie, go find someone to be a messenger.”
The ladyba came to attention. “Yes, sir.” She hurried inside.
Caradoc began unlashing the dracass that held her in place over the nightmare’s hips. When the last binding came free, he pulled the dracass and stepped backwards as she thumped heavily to the ground. “Shima, keep an eye on her.”
The nightmare shimmered back to her human form and knelt beside the bound pokegirl. She held a hand over the dracass’ chest and a yellow stream of energy began flowing from the dracass to Shima’s palm. When the flow ceased, she looked up. “The dracass has only enough energy left to remain alive. She is no danger.”
Leslie appeared in the doorway. “Sir, I have sent someone to let the commander know.”
A few minutes later Meredith, Jordan’s brass, opened the door for her tamer. He looked the area over and smiled. “Welcome back, Bishop.” His eyes fell on the dracass and a smile bloomed. “What’s she?”
“That’s a dracass, commander. She was living in the place I’ve selected for my farm and I figured you’d want her.”
“I take it you don’t.”
“I just added Shima to my harem and, even if I hadn’t, a dracass isn’t what I need for a farm.”
“I’m not sure I believe that a nightmare is.”
“She is. She can pull a cart and I’m thinking about breaking her to the plow.” The nightmare gave him a shocked look and he chuckled. “Other than Winona, you are my only quadruped. Besides, she’s too young.”
“I’ll find you other centaur pokegirls, I promise.” Shima gave him a wary look. “I’ll even share you with them if I don’t have to get near a plow.” She glanced at Jordan. “Sir.”
Naomi glared at the nightmare. “I think our master has the final say about who does what; right now a plow sounds just about right for you.”
Jordan chuckled. “If you do get her in harness, it should be an interesting sight. Jones, arrange for the dracass to be taken to the holding facility pending assignment to a tamer.”
“Yessir.”
The commander turned back to Caradoc. “Since I’m already downstairs and it’s close to lunchtime, Bishop, come with me to the lunchroom. We can talk there.” Without waiting for an answer, he turned and went back inside the building.
The lunchroom was set up pretty conventionally with the exception of a single long table that ran the length of the side of the room farthest from the door. Human women and a lone rabbit pokegirl wearing a tropical bikini ran the food service.
That’s a beach bunny.
Oddly enough, inside the lunchroom and stationed on either side of the door was a man wearing military clothing. Each carried an assault rifle and several grenades along with radios and stun guns.
Caradoc eyed them with interest. “I have to ask about the guards.”
Jordan smirked. “The back table is where the pokegirls eat and sometimes they get a bit unruly. They’re very hierarchic, you know and that makes them squabble. The guards are there to stop any trouble before it spills out into the rest of the building. I wanted to station tamers and their pokegirls to watch the room, but I was overruled.” He shook his head. “When something serious breaks out, they’ll probably be killed, but I’ve instructed my reaction teams to help out as much as they can. Meredith, take Bishop’s pokegirls and get something to eat.”
“Yes, sir.” The brass motioned to Naomi and Shima. “This way, ladies.”
Caradoc was slightly surprised to find that main dish was a huge vegetable omelet along with some kind of fruit medley. “I didn’t know there were that many chickens left.”
Jordan grimaced. “There aren’t and we’re too busy breeding their numbers back up to be eating any of their eggs. There’s a fellow on the west side of Montego who ran across a dozen pokegirls that look like overgrown chickens. We tried to confiscate them, but I don’t think they come with brains. For our purposes, they’re completely useless. They do, however, lay grapefruit sized eggs. We finally gave up and returned them to him and now he has an egg farm. Whenever we run across any more of those little chicken pokegirls, we give them to him. In return, we tamers get half the eggs for our own uses and he sells the rest. Some of them come here to give us a break from fish.”
They ate for a few minutes before Jordan resumed the conversation. “You said the dracass came from where you want to site your farm. Where would that be?”
“I found an excellent spot just south of Falmouth.”
“That’s over twenty miles away and you’ll be completely isolated if something happens. Why would you want to set up there?”
“By air, it’s not that far and you know it. As for why, I’ve got two primary reasons for wanting to build there. First, it’s a great place for a farm and I can raid the ruins of Falmouth for any supplies I need. Second, eventually someone will want to establish trade between the north and the south coasts. You know as well as I do, that’s the primary reason Bog Walk was resettled. At Falmouth, I can provide a way station for the wagon trains and other travelers and, since I’ve got pokegirls, my chances of not getting killed are much better than most.” He took another mouthful of eggs. “Any ferals that I catch I’ll be glad to sell to the league through you.”
“Sell? Why would I want to buy pokegirls when I can just confiscate them?”
“You’re not stupid. You know that you’re going to need people willing to go out and catch feral pokegirls or they’ll keep breeding like Shima. One day soon, they’ll come pouring out of the woods and eat everyone. After someone risks his life and the lives of his pokegirls to catch a pokegirl, if you confiscate her he’ll never go catch another one. Ever. But if you buy her or trade him something he needs, like gear or a different kind of pokegirl, he’ll see that what he just did has value and he’ll go out to catch another one.”
“Why would someone want to trade pokegirls?”
Bishop shrugged. “Fancies, for the most part. I could have kept that dracass if I’d really wanted to, but I figured she’d be too much work for whatever return I’d get. Someone else might disagree and if he had a pokegirl I thought could be useful, like another horse type, we could probably come to an agreement. Others will be interested in trades because they want a catgirl to have sex with or some other fetish.”
“How do you think of all this stuff?”
“I’m a farmer. Once the sun goes down, I’ve got almost nothing to do but think.”
“Isn’t that when you tame your pokegirls?”
“That’s why I said almost.” They shared a grin. “The Henry family from Bog Walk wants to come and work for me. I thought it might be a good idea so that the son will want to grow up to be a tamer instead of getting executed for sticking a knife in one.”
Jordan looked disgusted. “That was a monumental cock-up. When they were being gathered up for the relocation, the tamer in charge decided to make an example of her house so the others knew they had nothing to come back to. The brother got in the way and was killed. Naturally, we were blamed for his death.”
“I’m sure you can see why, since it was a pokegirl that killed him.” Caradoc didn’t look away when Jordan glared at him. “They don’t blame all tamers, just the ones that were there, and getting them away from those same tamers will help them to stay productive.”
“What does Manley say about losing them?”
“He gave the idea his blessing. I don’t think he wants them around infecting the others any more than they want to be around looking at their brother or uncle’s killers.”
“You don’t have any aspersions to politics, do you?”
Bishop gave him a puzzled look. “No, why?”
“You’d be good at it.”
“I’m not exactly sure how to respond to that.” He finished his fruit and put the spoon down. “What do you think about Falmouth?”
“I think you’ll be too far away; unfortunately, all of your reasons why I should let you go there are valid. We will need way stations along the main road and Falmouth is a good place for one.” He gave Caradoc an intent look. “I have no plans to begin the resettlement of Falmouth, so you’ll be on your own for several years to come.”
“I can live with that. Manley had the authorization to make me a tamer, even though I didn’t serve in the military. Do I have that same authority?”
“No, you don’t, but you will before you leave for Falmouth. You’ll be the administrator there and my eyes and ears.”
“Thanks. What’s the league’s policy on female tamers?”
“We’re not that excited about the idea. It would be too easy for a pokegirl to infiltrate disguised as a tamer. We also have a standing policy that potential breeders can’t be tamers until they’re determined to be infertile. If she is fertile, we don’t want to have to deal with a potentially hostile pokegirl when her tamer is taken to the Population Recovery Facility.”
“I see.” Bishop carefully kept his face neutral. He’d sooner bite off his tongue than give any hint he agreed with the philosophy behind the Tropic League population recovery program. Women were tested to determine if they were fertile or not. Anyone found to be fertile was immediately sequestered for the good of humanity and placed into a program where she’d be bred with the best and brightest in order to preserve the highest qualities in the human genome. The women were kept in heavily guarded Population Recovery Facilities in Montego Bay and Kingston. He’d heard that they were well kept and actually pampered for their reproductive life. After their reproductive usefulness was over, some were kept on to help take care of the other breeding women while the rest were released back into the general population.
However, since it was all done regardless of the will of the woman involved, he thought it a travesty of the worst kind. Individual freedom was one of the cornerstones of Tirsuli society and any government trying to impose such an idea on his people would only find itself out of power if it were lucky. Unlucky ones would find themselves being recycled for their nutrients.
The rumors he’d heard that suggested that the people in charge had determined that they just happened to be best and brightest were merely the icing on the cake as far as he was concerned.
Jordan leaned back in his chair. “When will you leave?”
Caradoc smiled slightly. “I’ll be gone right after I get done talking with you. We’ve got a lot of work to do and I’d like to get started right away.”
“I have to admit you’re pretty eager to get started. I’m done with you for now, but as soon as possible we need to establish radio communications with your farm. I don’t suppose you know how to use a shortwave radio?” He flashed a grin when Bishop shook his head. “Don’t worry, in time you’ll learn all about it. Right now, it’s used for all official communication in the league so you’ll have to have one.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to learn it.” Caradoc pushed his chair back as he signaled to Naomi. The elfqueen smiled and said something to Meredith before she and Shima grabbed their trays. The brass watched them go with a wistful expression that vanished when she realized Caradoc was watching her.
Once outside, Shima changed to her centaur form and her tamer and Naomi climbed on. Caradoc looked from one to the other as the nightmare trotted down the street. “Do either of you know anything about shortwave radios?”
The nightmare shook her head without looking back as Naomi smiled. “I know how to break them, sir, but that’s all.”
“I guess we’ll all get to learn together.”
(07/11/06 1830 Falmouth, Tropic League)
Naomi settled down next to Caradoc and wiped sweat from her face and neck. “The place is no longer a pigsty. Now it’s down to just absolutely filthy.”
He was busy cleaning the rust from an axe they’d found in their brief foray into Falmouth for tools. “Are you two still using shovels to clean?” He’d offered to help and had been quite firmly told to watch Winona while his two pokegirls cleaned, something he was rather interested in doing, if only to evaluate her progress.
If the infant nightmare was standard in regards to feral pokegirl children, then they were incredibly precocious. At less than a week old, she was showing developmental signs that unmodified human children wouldn’t reach for months. She could look around and already recognized all three of her caregivers. She was also developing a repertoire of noises and, curiously enough, when frightened went completely silent instead of crying. Personally, Caradoc thought it was an excellent survival trait, like that of a deer fawn. Winona had recently started trying to grab things and right now she lay near him, trying to roll over. Naomi thought she could recognize her own name, but experimentation had proven inconclusive so far.
“No, we’re done with that. What we need now is a lot of water and some brushes so we can scrub the place.” She leaned against her tamer and rested her head on his shoulder. “Since we don’t have those, sir, I think it’s time to repair the front door and see what we can do with the windows.”
Caradoc slipped his arm around her and she snuggled closer. “Most of the panes are shattered, so we’ll board them up for now. I think that later we may be able to put screens on them. We can look for brushes and buckets when we get back from Bog Walk with Amelia and her children.”
“Where are we going to put them, the barn? This is the only house on this property.”
“The property across the road has a house and they’ll live there.”
“That’s too far away to defend properly, sir. Shima and I will be willing to watch them, but you are our first priority and I don’t want to leave you unguarded.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” Caradoc began, only to be interrupted by an angry elfqueen.
“Sir, with all due respect you should not order us to protect the Henry’s over you. Shima won’t do it anyway if Winona is here.” She glared at him as he carefully plastered a patient expression on his face. “What?”
“I’m waiting to see when you’ll be done so I can discuss my thoughts on the matter which, by the way, does not involve weakening the protection around my person.”
Naomi flushed. “Oh.” She smiled slightly as his eyes flicked down to follow the blush into her cleavage. “Sir, would you care to discuss this wonderful idea with me?”
Caradoc resisted an urge to ignore her. “I’ve been thinking about where Amelia and her family would live ever since she asked to come and work with us. Putting her and the rest of her family on our land would impose certain obligations that I’m not ready to allow her to put on me. Therefore, I thought to make her an offer where she would work as a sharefarmer for me. I’d give her the house and an acre or two for herself. If she, Amelia and Richard helped to work our land, then I’d give them a share of the crop for them to either dispose of with mine or to do with as they saw fit, thus giving them a vested interest in working my land as well as theirs.”
“I know that doesn’t address the security issue, but I have an idea for that as well. Richard is sixteen and I think it’s time he became a tamer. I suggested such to him while we were in Bog Walk and he’s willing to accept a pokegirl as long as he’s not subject to being inducted into the league military.” He shrugged. “I explained to him that I didn’t have any power over that, but that as a tamer he was much less likely to become cannon fodder like the guards in the cafeteria. I also checked and the Tropic League military is an all volunteer organization. I’m not even a member.”
Naomi looked thoughtful. “Richard will need a pokegirl.”
“I’m sure we can find one somewhere around here. I’ve seen tracks down at the river and we’ve seen some fly by already.”
“I may be able to help with that, sir. Now that I’m an elfqueen, I can call unattached elves to me. I was going to do that to give us more workers and I’m sure that one of them will be nice enough for Richard.”
“That’ll do for a second pokegirl for him, but I’d like to get him a starter pokegirl that’s got a range that you and Shima don’t have. It’ll widen our range of options for defending the ranch, at least as long as he’s here.”
“Are you going to get another pokegirl, sir?”
“Before I answer that, I want to see what you think of my thoughts on Richard and the rest of the Henry family.”
“Sir, I think that it’s an excellent idea. Giving them their own land will show you are beneficent and will help to gain more trust and loyalty from all of them. Having them help us with ours will benefit everyone involved. Will we help them with theirs?”
“I’ll work that out with Amelia when I talk to her, but if we do, it’ll slightly reduce the share they get from my land, unless I get a share of their crops. I’d prefer the former, and then we can treat all the land as one unit for working.” He looked around the area idly. “I’m thinking about expanding into other crops besides just the berries. There are a lot of vegetables that are in short supply and I really want to make the farm as self sufficient as possible. Out here, it may be the difference between living and dying. Besides, the more sufficient we are; the less time and money we’ll have to spend importing supplies from other places.”
“What about the mission?”
“With Shima, we can ship our crops all over the island. That’ll let me get a decent look at what’s going on. Something as big as an invasion being assembled is almost impossible to keep hidden. I’ve already planted the beacon up near the house and I’ve sent a report noting that we’ve moved.”
“Was there a response?”
“There was an acknowledgement of my message, but nothing more than that.” He frowned. “I’d like to go to Haven for some trade. They’ve got some stuff I think would help here, but I’m unsure if Shikarou will let me bring it back. Helping here could well help the Tropics invade Haven.”
“You won’t know until you ask him. Why not include the request in your next report?”
He gave her a startled look. “That’s an excellent idea. For some reason I was thinking that I had to ask him face to face, but this means I don’t have to waste a trip if he says no.”
Naomi almost purred at the compliment. “I just try to help, sir.”
(07/12/06 0600 Bishop Farm, Falmouth, Tropic League)
“Do I need to stay back?”
Naomi smiled at him. “No, you don’t. Your presence won’t affect what I’m doing.” She glanced up at Shima, who sat on the roof of their house with her daughter. “Hers might, but she’s far enough away that her presence won’t disrupt anything either.” She pulled a razor sharp arrow from her quiver before handing it and her bow to Caradoc. “Please hold these for me.” She pulled her dress over her head and tossed it to the side.
The hair on the back of Caradoc’s neck prickled as energy began to build around them. It seemed to fill the air until it became hard to breathe. Naomi’s hair began to swirl in an invisible wind and he felt it whisper along his face. “Blood fuels the magic,” she muttered as she drove the arrowhead into her wrist. Blood spattered the ground in front of her and slowly soaked into the dirt.
Caradoc shifted the gear he was holding to free up one hand and held it out. “Will my blood help?”
Naomi’s eyes went wide. “Yes, it will. Male blood will make my casting more balanced and much more powerful.” He hissed air when the arrowhead bit into his wrist and his blood joined hers.
The elfqueen drove the arrow into the soil beside her and dropped to her knees. She buried her fingers in the bloody earth. Her voice came in a singsong. “I am the queen here and this land and all that it is and will be are mine.” Grass shoots erupted from the ground around her fingers in a ring that sped away from her faster than a man could run, leaving a magnificent green carpet in all directions. “I call upon the children of the forests, plains and glens to come and serve me. I am your queen and I command your obedience.” Her eyes filled with a brilliant emerald light and her voice hardened. “I command you to me now!” Caradoc’s breath caught in his throat as the world seemed to stand still for a heartbeat. Naomi’s back arched and she seemed to be trying to push her hands through the soil. “NOW!” The earth shivered as the energy poured into it, leaving Caradoc to sink to the ground on suddenly shaky legs. Naomi took a deep, gasping breath and leaned sideways to rest against him. “It is done.”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Winona - nightmare pokekit