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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The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
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Seven
(07/25/06 0800 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Veronica touched Caradoc on the shoulder. “Sir, are you ok?”
He twitched away from her. “I’m fine.” He took a deep breath at the hurt expression on her face and softened his curt tone. “Look, I’m sorry I’m a bit defensive around you right now. You did hurt me pretty badly. I’m working to get over it and I should be fine about you later. I just need a little more time, ok?”
“Yes sir.” The valkyrie dropped back to walk with Naomi. “I am sorry about what happened to the captain, mistress.”
“We know.” Naomi glanced around as they started to enter Montego. “We’re just going to have to find a solution before you go to his bed again. He’s not afraid of you; he just needs to finish healing first.”
Caradoc glanced back at them. “Veronica.” The valkyrie blinked and ran up to join him. “You’re going to be my bodyguard today. Think you can handle that?”
She drew herself up proudly. ‘Yessir!” Her hand hovered over the emerald resting between her breasts. “Do I need to put on my armor?”
“No, but stay alert and if you feel you need to, don’t wait for my say-so.”
Shima’s centaur form was loaded with sacks that had been expertly strapped down. She’d started wearing a sports bra when Winona had tried to develop the habit of grabbing a nipple without warning and now she scratched along a strap idly as she walked. “We’re almost to the TLCFHQ.” Her lips twisted. “Is there a shorter way to say that?”
Caradoc chuckled. “What about the police headquarters?”
The nightmare smiled. “That sounds good.”
Allen Jones was on duty again with his ladyba, Leslie. “Bishop, what brings you back here?”
“I need to talk to Commander Jordan and I brought some gifts this time.” Caradoc pulled a small bag from the pile of sacks and tossed it to Jones. “For your personal use.”
Jones raised an eyebrow and opened the bag. The other eyebrow shot up to join the first as the aroma reached his nose. “This smells fresh. Where did you get it?”
“We went to Hagley Gap and harvested it. I built a roaster and the result is what you see. You’ll still need a grinder for it.”
Jones grinned. “This is Blue Mountain coffee?” The grin widened when Bishop nodded. “You know, I had my reservations about you, Bishop, but you’re ok in my book.” The bag vanished in a pile of stuff next to him. He eyed the rest of the sacks with interest. “Is that all coffee?”
“Yes it is. I’m going to give some to the commander and then we’re going down to the market to do some trading.”
“I get off duty at noon. Save me some and I’ll buy it from you.” His gaze shifted to the valkyrie. “Who is she?”
“That’s Veronica. I caught her at Hagley Gap. She’s providing security since I’m carrying a king’s ransom in coffee.”
“You might want to be careful, Bishop. Three pokegirls is the limit unless you’re someone important. Most of us make do with one or two.” He grinned again. “Otherwise we’d be doing nothing more than screwing.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Caradoc chuckled. “Richard Henry is finding out about that right now. He got a growltit rather recently and she’s been keeping him pretty tired out.”
Allen snickered. “Those fiery pokegirls will do that. Most guys with one get another pokegirl just to give her someone else to have sex with, unless they’re into sharing.”
Naomi smiled sweetly as Caradoc chuckled. “Master Jones, I’ve already got one ready for him when that time comes.”
Jones blinked. “You let her do that?”
“She’s an elfqueen and the collection of elves we’ve got takes her orders faster than they take mine. Of course, she takes my orders and passes them on for me, so they still do what I want.”
“Oh, that’s ok then.” Jones leaned back in his chair. “I don’t think you should take everyone up with you.”
“I’m only taking Veronica to the commander’s office.” The valkyrie was watching the exchange alertly and a smile spread across her face at his words. “Will you watch the other two while I’m gone?”
“Be glad to, Bishop. You’ve built a fine stable of girls there.”
“Just watch them. No touching. Shima still bites and I’d prefer not to have to find out what would happen to her if she bit someone else.” He unstrapped a five kilogram bag of coffee and hoisted it onto his shoulder. “Veronica.” The valkyrie took point as they headed inside.
The redhead looked up when they came into Jordan’s office. “Tamer Bishop? I’m afraid I don’t recall you having an appointment today.”
“I don’t,” he paused. “I’m very sorry, but I never got your name.”
She blinked. “I’m Nina.”
“Well, Nina, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. It just so happens that I don’t have an appointment with the commander, but I’ve brought him some freshly roasted coffee beans. Do you think he could make time on his schedule for that?”
Nina’s eyes focused on the sack and her nose almost quivered. “Yes, I think he could. Just a moment.” She knocked on Jordan’s door and disappeared inside for a moment before reappearing. “He’s got a meeting with the mayor and has to leave in ten minutes,” she said softly.
“I won’t take that long.”
Jordan looked tired and fresh scratches overlaid the scar on his face. Leslie looked a little ragged around the edges too. “Tina said you wanted to see me?” He looked pointedly at the clock ticking away on a cabinet. “I don’t have long.”
“I made a trip up into the Blue Mountains and brought you back some coffee beans.” Caradoc offered the sack to the brass.
“Blue Mountain coffee? That’s a very thoughtful gift.” Jordan leaned back in his chair. “I’ll have some this evening.”
“I’m glad you like it. May I ask what happened?”
“Wasps hit us from the west. It was pretty ugly for a while, but we hurt the nest pretty badly and drove the survivors off. They do that every year, but this time they were earlier than we’d expected.”
Caradoc shrugged off his backpack and pulled out a bundle. “Here are all the great grapes I’ve got. We’ll have some more in a week.”
Jordan took the package with a tired smile. “Thanks. The ones you left last time really helped out a lot. It’ll be even better when the plants you left mature enough to provide fruit.”
Bishop hesitated as he carefully formulated his next words. “I heard some rumors that the Indigo league has some specialized technology for healing pokegirls.”
Jordan’s brow furrowed at the sudden change of topic. Then he shrugged. “They do, but they’re not sharing yet. What of it?”
“The rumor I heard said that they got some of that tech from Haven. I also heard that they’re trading with Haven for more of it.”
“Really? I hadn’t heard that one. Still, what does it matter?”
“I want to go there and see if it’s true. If it is, we could trade with them too. That tech would make our pokegirls a lot more useful against stuff like those wasps.”
“I don’t see what you’re worried about. You didn’t fight them.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t have to later. The real reason I went to the Hagley Gap was to get coffee bushes, which I’ve planted on the slopes around my farm. I’ve also planted sugarcane and other food crops. If they do well, eventually those crops will draw ferals.”
Jordan looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not sure if Haven would welcome you. We had some difficulty with them and I’m not sure the bad feelings have had a chance to pass.”
“Difficulties is kind of vague, sir. Could you elaborate?”
Jordan eyed him for a moment. “Understand that this is still classified and you’ll be liable if your pokegirl talks about it.”
“I understand. Veronica won’t talk.”
“That’s good to hear. By the way, you’re limited to three pokegirls unless I authorize it.” Jordan steepled his fingers. “From what I’ve been told, before we knew that the kingdom was there, a colonization force was sent to the island so we could claim it. The people were sent from Haiti and the colony was captured by the Haven military. The details were vague, but the Tropic League demanded them back and Haven refused. A short time later they allowed anyone who wanted to return the chance to leave and ten people did so. The rest elected to stay in the kingdom.”
He grimaced. “The league, of course, argued that the people were being held against their will and the king of Haven apparently threw a fit about that. He insisted that the league send inspectors to interview random people to see that he wasn’t lying about the circumstances.” Jordan glanced at Caradoc. “One of my best friends went and his reports match what this King Shikarou said. The league dropped the issue, but I understand someone in Haven is still upset. There’re even rumors that they’re planning to go to war with us.”
Caradoc kept his face expressionless. “I’ve heard rumors saying we might be planning to go to war with them.”
“That’s crap. The inspectors got a good look at the size of Haven’s military. They’ve actually managed to train pokegirls to fight for them without tamers, kind of like Sukebe did. If we attacked them, we’d be slaughtered. Believe me when I say that no such plans are in the works. I’d know about them.” He sighed. “We’ve got too many problems here to seriously consider making more with people we don’t have to screw with.”
Bishop leaned forward. “Let me go and I’ll see if I can find any truth to those rumors. I really want to establish trade with them if they’re not hostile. We need every edge we can get and if it’s true that they’re the source of the Indigo League’s advanced tech, then maybe we can get it too. Someone has to try and I’m nobody you can’t afford to lose.”
Jordan stared at him over his fingers for what seemed like a long time. “I’m not sure that’s entirely true, Bishop. Your experience has proven very useful and you’ve helped us out more than you’ll probably ever know.”
“Then let me try to help again.”
“You don’t strike me as the altruistic type. What’s in it for you?”
Caradoc smiled slightly. “If I’m the first person to establish trade with Haven, and if they have stuff worth trading for, then I’ll be in a very good position to monopolize a significant proportion of that trade for some time to come. It may not be a high percentage of the overall trade, but any bit I can get for myself will help.”
“Now, that attitude I can completely understand.” Jordan returned the smile. “If you can do this, I’ll want to invest in your company.”
Bishop hadn’t been expecting this turn and upon quick consideration he wanted partners with about the same amount of desire as he felt towards catching dysentery. “How about you let me find out if this will work before we discuss investing? If it does, then we’ll figure out what kind of role you’ll play.” His tone grew contemplative. “I would need someone in the military who knew what people to talk to and who to, shall we say, proffer favors to in order to advance our products. That someone would, by necessity, be well compensated for their actions. If that’s all they did, then they wouldn’t have to shoulder any of the responsibility for the actual procurement of the merchandise.”
Jordan took the bait. “That sounds like just the kind of job I could do. I know all the right people here and in Kingston who can help us distribute anything you can get from Haven.”
Caradoc nodded slowly. “Now all I have to do is find something on Haven worth selling here.”
Jordan looked up as his brass cleared her throat softly. “Sir, it’s time to go if you want to be on time to your meeting.”
He nodded. “Thank you, Meredith. Bishop, I’ve got to go, but let me know what happens.”
“I will.” Caradoc rose and grinned. “Now I’ll send my girls to market while I make a quick side errand to deal with a problem back home.”
(07/26/06 0600 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“Good morning, sir.” The growltit bobbed her head respectfully towards Caradoc.
“And I wish a good morning to you, Pippi. Is Richard up as well or is it just you?”
“My master is still eating breakfast, sir. Do you wish me to let him know you want to see him?”
“No, I was just curious. Is Amelia still angry?”
The blonde shook her head. “I am not sure, sir. She isn’t talking to me or my master. He says that means she’s still angry with us.”
Caradoc sighed. “I probably need to talk to her. Is she up?”
“Yes, sir, she’s out in the vegetable garden.” The growltit pointed. “Shall I fetch her?”
“Considering you’re why she’s mad, that probably isn’t a good idea. It might be best if I went to her instead.” He looked over at Shima. “Let’s go find Amelia.” The valkyrie knew less than anyone else about farming and so today was supposed to be both guarding and shadowing Naomi while she began her education. If she worked out and stayed, she’d get access to the knowledge stone, but not before he was sure she’d be with them for the long haul.
He slid onto the nightmare’s back and she headed off at a fast walk. During the journey, he took the opportunity to look over the whole farm, up to this point it was something he’d just been too busy to do. As he did so, his mind drifted back to the Blue Mountain visit.
While Veronica and the coffee beans they’d harvested from the Blue Mountain plants had been a nice bonus, the real reason they’d gone had been to see how the bushes were grown so he could germinate some from the ripe seeds for his own use. When he’d explained his plans, Naomi had immediately spotted a problem with them. “Sir, coffee bushes take several years to mature. I could force seeds to grow to maturity over a month as you want, but the stresses involved with that much growth will ensure that the plants won’t live for a fraction of their normal lifespan if I also make them produce crops over and over. I would rather not do that if I don’t have to.”
He frowned, looking over the fields. “I thought we’d have other seedlings growing to maturity at a safe rate while these were producing. I know you don’t want to hurt the plants any more than we have to, but I want coffee for trade as soon as possible.”
The elfqueen looked relieved. “I thought that might be your purpose and it happens I know a better way, sir. All we need to do is pick out the best bushes here. I’ll do the rest.” She twisted emerald hair around a finger as she thought. “We really need around fifty bushes but let’s pick out the best twenty or so. We can always come back later for more.”
Caradoc shrugged. “If you have a way that will work, show me. I hope it doesn’t involve me and a shovel.”
She glowed with pleasure at his words. “No sir, digging would damage the roots. Thanks for trusting me. Let me find a suitable bush and I’ll demonstrate.”
After checking with Shima to make sure that the valkyrie was secured properly, something that the nightmare thought seemed to require mummifying their prisoner with chains, Caradoc followed Naomi as she headed across the fields, pausing at each coffee bush to touch it for a few seconds. Finally she stopped at an unusually large coffee plant. “This one is strong, healthy and content. It’s got no parasites and excellent root growth.”
“It’s content? Are you telling me that has emotions?”
The elfqueen’s lips curved in a gentle smile. “No, I’m not. Content is the word I use to describe a general feeling of wellness that I get from the plant, not feelings that the plant itself has. Other than pokegirls like myself, there aren’t any plants advanced enough to have feelings.”
“Naomi, you are no plant. You’re a supernatural being with plant affinities. If you were a plant, we couldn’t have children.”
Her smile warmed. “Thank you, sir, but there’s no way to prove me wrong or you right. Some plant pokegirls are extremely plantlike.”
He shrugged. “That sounds like a debate for a stormy day when we’re trapped in the house with nothing to do.”
Her eyes twinkled happily. “Sir, we always have something we could do if we’re trapped in the house. We could always fuck.”
He chuckled. “I think I just lost that one.”
Her quiet laughter filled the air. “I always knew you showed wisdom. Now please watch closely and see how I can prepare this bush for transport.” She wrapped both hands around the trunk of the coffee plant and closed her eyes. The hair on the back of his neck rose as the air became pregnant with magic as it coalesced around them. The bush lurched in her grip and he jumped back when the ground began moving beneath his feet.
Naomi released the coffee plant and stepped back to join him as the bush’s roots began thrusting out of the ground like serpents. The bush’s trembling became more violent and it began moving upwards as its roots forced the trunk from the soil. Finally the whole plant lay exposed, balanced on its now quiescent roots.
Caradoc started to ask a question when the roots began moving again. The bush toppled sideways as the roots twisted together into a compact ball, the outer roots curled protectively around the taproot. Finally, everything was still.
“Sir, that’s what I meant. That plant is now ready to be transported back to the farm. Once we get the plants back home and find a place for them, I can grow them back into the ground and they’ll just keep going from where they are now. You don’t lose any production time and the coffee plants are only minimally stressed.” She looked over the fields. “Here, they cleared out everything else and are mono-cropping, but these plants produce better coffee if they’re grown in some shade. The crops are a little smaller, but I think the increase in quality will more than compensate for that.”
“That means we won’t have to clear the slopes around the house.”
She smiled happily. “That’s exactly right, sir. It’ll also keep the nutrients in the soil better. Crops do much better if they grow with others.”
“Will you make the plants on the slope where we decide to put the coffee pull their roots up for ease of removal?”
She shook her head in a swirl of bright green. “No, sir, what I’ll do instead is command the plants to die. Then I’ll accelerate their decomposition to help fertilize the soil.”
“I didn’t know you could do that.”
She nodded. “I can’t will to death any plant pokegirls, but I can decompose any dead plant, either sentient or not, in a matter of minutes. Prepared plant matter such as cotton clothing or lumber is harder, but it can be decomposed, too.”
“While I’m not sure any dead plant is sentient at that time, I understand what you’re getting at. Is it worthwhile for me to ask how this is done?”
She just shook her head and picked up the coffee bush. “No sir, I don’t think I can explain how the magic works.”
“That sounds fair enough. Let’s get the rest of them.”
While Naomi had been selecting and preparing the rest of the coffee plants for shipping, Caradoc and Shima had searched the ruins of the houses for tarps and rope that had been used to bundle the bushes together. The valkyrie got unceremoniously strapped to the resulting package. Shima had moved to hover a meter off of the ground over the bundle and grumbled as ropes were lashed to her. Once that was done, she’d climbed in a tight spiral and soon resembled a helicopter carrying a slung load.
Because he hadn’t planned ahead, he and Naomi had been forced to clamber onto the roof of the least damaged house in the area so they could get on the nightmare’s back for the flight home. The weight had slowed her a great deal, but fortunately they hadn’t seen more than one feral, a rack who turned tail as soon as Naomi’s first arrow sliced past her face. The elfqueen hadn’t been aiming to miss, but she was still getting used to shooting from a moving platform.
Once back at the farm, Shima hovered while they dropped the bundle. The nightmare snickered as muffled yelling after it hit the ground indicated that the valkyrie had woken up. After dropping off her passengers, she’d drained the valkyrie’s life energy down to a minimum to keep her quiet and then carried her off to prepare the pokegirl for her introduction into the harem. After getting close enough to smell her, Caradoc had insisted that preparation include bathing. The fighting pokegirl had been pungent enough to send him stumbling backwards as his eyes began watering profusely.
He scrambled up the slope as he followed Naomi. She stopped and looked around. “This would be a good spot to start a row.” She pointed with her chin. “See where there’s already kind of an empty line. It’s still shady enough that the coffee will thrive.”
He could see it after she pointed it out. “I see it.”
“Then this tree has to go.” Slender fingers wrapped around the trunk and her eyes narrowed in concentration. Caradoc watched as the leaves on the tree withered and fell. The bark lightened and began to slough off as small limbs began to unravel like smoke in a wind. Dust drifted across him and he fought a sneeze. Naomi took his hand and pulled him away from the dissolving tree. The disintegration slowed as it reached the larger branches but they too succumbed and then the trunk began to crumble to powder. Finally only powder remained that stirred slightly in the breeze.
Naomi squeezed his fingers. “One of the things I do is force all of the water in the plant back into the ground so it’s not wasted. Now you have seen how I can will a plant to death and reduce it to dust. Do you have any questions?”
“If you can make a plant pull its roots out of the ground for transport, can you make the roots pull the rest of the plant under the surface?”
She gave him a puzzled look. “I suppose I could, but why would you want me to do that?”
“That way when you decompose it, we don’t lose any of the nutrients to the elements. They all stay to feed whatever we put in its place.”
The elfqueen gave him a stunned look. To her credit, she recovered quickly. “That’s an excellent idea, sir and I’ll do it that way from now on.”
Caradoc’s mind was pulled back to the present as Shima looked over her shoulder at him. “I found Amelia.”
Amelia Henry gave him a flat look and deliberately turned her back as he rode up. Caradoc slid off of Shima’s back. “Thank you, Shima.”
He’d hung her skirt over his shoulder and he handed the garment to the nightmare as she shifted back to her human form. She stepped into it and quickly pulled the elastic waistband over her hips as she slipped back into the role she played around other humans. “Glad to help you, sir.”
Caradoc pulled a sealed envelope from his shirt pocket. “Amelia, I would like you to sit down for a moment. We need to have a talk.”
Her tone was curt. “I’m busy.”
“I know you are, but this is important. I have a letter for you. It’s from someone in Montego Bay. I asked a pastor to write it.”
Amelia snorted. “I’m sure it is. You wrote it and now you’re trying to pass it off to me as real.”
“While your idea sounds a lot easier than what I actually did, I’m not Christian and I wouldn’t try to represent myself as one. Besides, the pastor said he knew you from before the Red Plague. I don’t know anything about your life before we met, other than your brother’s name was Ken Henry.”
She gave him a surprised look. “My brother’s name was Kenneth Marshall. Henry is my married name. What is this pastor’s name?”
“Calvin Henry.”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s Oscar’s brother and my brother in law. He was in Montego on vacation when the plague hit. He and his family died there.”
Caradoc shrugged. “Apparently he thought the same thing about your family.”
“How is he?”
Bishop thrust out the envelope. “Why don’t you read it and find out? I asked him to counsel you on Richard becoming an adult, but I suspect he put something personal in the letter. I would.”
“Is that how you judge people, by what you’d do in their place?”
“Not usually. Usually I don’t judge people at all. There’s no way I can know them well enough to make anything close to an informed decision.”
Amelia took the letter cautiously as if it might bite her. She felt the unbroken seal and looked up. “You didn’t read it? It might not be what you want me to hear.”
Caradoc looked insulted. “Of course not. It’s yours and I respect your privacy. All I did was to ask him to tell you what he felt about tamers and pokegirls.”
She opened the letter and unfolded it.
Dear Amelia, I suspect you are as surprised to find out that I am alive as I was when I heard that you and the children survived. If I’d had the slightest inkling that you, Richie and Nancy were still alive, I’d have found a way to get to Kingston. I’d received official word that Oscar had died and the report said his entire family had perished with him.
Mr. Bishop has asked me to guide you to his belief that Richard is blameless in his decision to accept pokegirls into his life and become a tamer. As you know and apparently as he does not understand, I cannot merely tell you to accept what has happened. As the Montego Bay pastor, I can only tell you what I believe and advise you to seek wisdom from your Bible.
We live in very trying times and although there are those who label Sukebe as the antichrist, I think he was merely a man. To be true, he was a very twisted and evil man, but still he was merely a man. Of course, Hitler was a merely a man too, and he plunged the world into a war from which it never really recovered. I think that Sukebe rose to that level of evil, but a growing body of evidence indicates that while he was responsible for the Bloody Flu, he was not responsible for the Red Plague. That fault appears to lie with the hands of the Chinese, chosen by Lucifer to be his instrument.
But we live in a world where both events took place. Before his death, Sukebe unleashed his terrors on the world and later the Chinese released something even worse. This is not the end of the world. I know this because the Bible shows us how the world will end and this isn’t Armageddon.
However, it is a world in which we must live. There aren’t very many of us and the pokegirls are breeding in the wilderness. We have very little production capability and therefore, without the tamers and their tame pokegirls, are helpless before the destruction that pokegirls can cause.
That brings us to the final question, are tamers living in sin with their pokegirls? I’ve prayed to God for guidance and I’ve read the Bible, seeking answers. You, of course, will have to do the same, but here are my conclusions.
If the leagues are right and the pokegirls are animals, then by fornicating with them tamers are committing a grave sin. The Bible is very plain on that fact.
However, the few pokegirls I’ve met seem human enough. If they are human, then we owe them the same decency and generosity that we would offer to any other man in need. Their needs are a bit unusual, but if they are the slaves of Sukebe, or even his creations, as I’ve heard rumor say then, as the descendents of slaves ourselves, we need to give them the help that the first Baptist missionaries gave to us.
The Bible gives allowance for a man to have a wife and concubines and unless a tamer marries one of his pokegirls, I believe they are his concubines. If they marry, then I am willing to present them before the Lord as husband and wife. I feel in my heart that this is the right way and I can only counsel you to look in your heart and decide for yourself.
I would point out that by telling you this I am going against Tropic League policy, which recommends priests to advise that marriage is not possible between a man and a pokegirl. In fact, I suspect that they will move to make such a civil union illegal. I’ve heard rumors that they are in the process of working on such a law in Kingston.
Then again, as you know, I’ve often found myself at odds with the secular authorities who don’t seem to understand that I only answer to the highest power.
Mr. Bishop has assured me that as long as you are willing, he will either bring you and the children to Montego or he will bring me to where you are. Even though he’s very young, I believe him. If possible, I’d like to see your whole family this Sunday at church, which begins at 9 am. If Richie has a pokegirl, then I expect to see her there too.
See if you can get Mr. Bishop and his family to attend as well. He told me that he’s not Christian and I think his soul needs saved.
Love, Cal.
Amelia looked up as tears glittered on the corners of her eyes. “Thank you for bringing me this.”
“I lost all my family before I came here and found Naomi,” Caradoc said quietly. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy and I thank the Wolf for letting me find your brother in law.”
“Can we go to church on Sunday?”
Caradoc frowned. “What day is today?”
She frowned. “I’m not sure.”
Today is July 26, 06 in the calendar of Sukebe, which would make it 2008 in the Gregorian calendar. That would make today Saturday. Sunday is the day that follows Saturday.
Caradoc made a show of counting on his fingers while silently mouthing numbers. “Oh. Apparently tomorrow is Sunday.”
She looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“As much as I can be. I was planning to take a trip tomorrow, but if you’d like to go to church I can put it off for a day.”
Shima cocked her head. “How many people are going to be going to Montego?”
“My family, Richard’s pet,” Amelia paused. “No, that’s not fair to her. Richard’s pokegirl will be going as well. I don’t know if what they are doing is right, but I won’t deny her the chance to hear God’s word even if she is living in sin with my son.”
“Four then.” Shima looked at her tamer. “It would probably be safest in two trips.”
Amelia shook her head. “Calvin has also requested Caradoc’s presence along with you, Naomi and,” she hesitated, “whatever the other girl’s name is. I was too furious at you and Richard to try and meet her.”
“Her name is Veronica and she’s a valkyrie.”
“Well, all of you are welcome in church tomorrow.” She gave him a pleading look. “Please come.”
Caradoc wondered briefly how he got into things like this and gave in to the inevitable. “We don’t have any nice clothes to wear, but ok.”
“Thank you, Caradoc.”
“Are you still mad at me and Richard?”
She smiled tiredly. “I’m not sure how I feel. Calvin’s letter gave me a lot to think about. I guess the rest is up to me and God.”
Caradoc shook his head. “I’m not Christian and I don’t know how much aid I can give you in Christian matters, but as far as I’m concerned, Amelia you aren’t alone. If I can help, please ask me to.”
“I will.”
She turned back to her work in the vegetable belt as he slipped onto Shima’s back. “Let’s take a turn around the farm at treetop level. I want to get an overall idea of our progress.”
The nightmare glanced at him and shifted Winona’s onbuhimo slightly. “Very well.” She headed off at a smooth trot, climbing into the air as she headed for the northern edge.
Bishop Farm lay in a cleared area just north of a bend in some unnamed river and several kilometers south of Falmouth, in an area several kilometers across, the whole of which Bishop had cheerfully claimed. The crops were laid out in a series of concentric circles around the main house, with the idea that the defensive arrangement would help slow the advance of ferals and keep them away from the main buildings (many of whom still needed constructed) until they could be intercepted and either driven off or captured. It would be nice if a minimum of crops were damaged in the process, but the survival of the family was paramount and sacrificing plants was preferable to losing someone. To that end, Caradoc, Naomi and Shima had worked out the way they thought would best accomplish that goal. The maps provided by the knowledge stone had helped them to find the crops he wanted to raise. Even though most of the crops were still getting established, the primary layout was pretty much complete.
The outermost ring was composed entirely of sugarcane. Pippi had confirmed that she could smell the sugar when she was merely wandering through the rows of young plants and it was hoped that this would incite most feral pokegirls to stop and feed without bothering to get closer to the farm. Raw sugarcane was rich in many vitamins and, unlike their purely animal counterparts such as cats; all pokegirls had sweet sensing taste buds and should want to linger. From the air, the sections of the belt to the north, nearest Falmouth, and south, closest to the river, were noticeably thicker than the rest. It was from these directions the majority of ferals were expected to come.
Another reason to use sugarcane in the outermost ring was that it was a quick growing crop and Naomi believed that anything other than catastrophic damage could be repaired in short order. Caradoc hoped she was right, sugarcane would be a substantial cash crop if he could harvest and process it.
He was even considering a small processing facility for making rum and molasses.
The ring just inside the sugarcane was composed of food crops. Seedlings of wheat, carrots, onions, potatoes, squash, spinach and anything else he could find could be found poking their heads above the soil. Elves watched them closely and here Bluebell was working industriously, making any weeds grow themselves to death before they could get established. The crops were primarily for the denizens of the farm. Like most pokegirls, elves could eat anything a human could, but if given a choice almost universally preferred an exclusively vegetarian existence whenever possible. Any excess crops could be sold in Montego, or to travelers. Of course, this would be after paying taxes to the league.
With money in short supply, the league had fallen back on taking their taxes in product. Caradoc wasn’t fond of the idea of taxes at all, but he wasn’t in a position to deny the league and made a mental note to get a receipt for any crops he gave to the TLCF to offset his league taxes.
The belt inside the crop belt was composed of fruit. Here could be found all the types of berry that Sukebe’s forces had used, interspaced with purely Terran fruit such as blackberries, strawberries and figs. Fruit trees, including limes and pears were planted around the main buildings where they could do double duty as shade trees.
Inside the fruit belt was the final belt of harvestable plants. Here were the spices and herbs. Currently, this one was the sparsest since herbs were very seasonal and when growing wild they tended to be hard to see from the air. Caradoc planned later on in the summer to make ground sweeps through surrounding communities for these potentially valuable plants. Also scattered through this belt were any flowers that they could scavenge from abandoned homes along with several plots of Sea Island cotton that he was growing as an experiment. Fibers of all sorts were still being scavenged from the abandoned houses in Montego, but as the years slipped by, the quality dropped substantially.
The main buildings sat in the center of these fields, hopefully safe from feral attack. Due to its location, the Henry home was located in the fruit belt and was more vulnerable, but sometimes you had to work with what was available.
The coffee was planted on the slopes around the farm and due to terrain was located outside the sugarcane belt. It was considered an unavoidable but low hazard since ripe coffee beans tasted horrible before being roasted and the green coffee beans would cause uncontrollable vomiting in humans and most pokegirls.
Fish traps were being constructed by two elves that Caradoc had trained. Once completed, they would be dropped in the river for an hour or two each day. Keeping them in the water longer would increase their yield, but would also increase the chances of them being destroyed by ferals looking for an easy meal. Yields could be small, though, since Caradoc intended the fish to only feed the farm population. Cities in Jamaica tended to be on the coast, so they already had established fishing industries. Caradoc had no intention of depopulating the river to try and feed the masses. He knew that someday Falmouth would probably be re-colonized, however and then the residents might eventually start uncontrolled fishing of the rivers. Plans were already floating around in the back of his mind for fish ponds.
Shima glanced over her shoulder at her rider. “Naomi is trying to get your attention.”
Caradoc looked down where three elves and a lone valkyrie were waving and yelling at them. Veronica had even summoned her wings and was waving them in an attempt to get their attention. He bit back a laugh. “Let’s go see what she wants.”
Shima went into a steep descent that sent him sliding forward on her back until he grabbed her around the waist. The nightmare patted his hands. “That’s where you belong, right up against me.” She landed at a canter and pivoted to come to a halt in front of the elves.
Caradoc slid off Shima’s back as Veronica dismissed her wings. “What’s the matter?”
Naomi indicated an elf with short brown hair. “Iris found a wagon in town that was used for parades.” She smiled at Shima. “I just need someone to pull it to the house.”
The nightmare sneered. “I am busy. Your legs work.”
The elfqueen’s eyes narrowed. “I want you to do it.”
Caradoc looked from Shima to Naomi. “Then it’ll have to wait. We don’t have any harnesses for Shima and if there are any with the wagon, they’re probably rotten. We’ll go for it when we can.”
Naomi nodded. “Can I put a couple of elves to making rope for harnesses and such?”
“Once the plants are doing well, I’m sure they’ll have the time.” He glanced to the west. “The cotton is growing well and we should have a first harvest in a couple of weeks.”
“It’ll be closer to a month, sir, but I understand. Perhaps there will be harnesses where we’re going tomorrow.” Naomi had been introduced to the idea of opsec or operational security and had taken to it immediately.
“There’s been a change of plans. Tomorrow we’re going to church in Montego with Amelia and her family. We’ll be going on a trip the day after tomorrow.”
“What’s church?”
Caradoc smiled. “I think that’s why she wants us to go.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t worship their god.”
Naomi gave him a searching look. “What gods do you worship?”
“I worship the Wolf.”
“Can you tell me about him?”
Caradoc shrugged. “We might be able to get you some literature on him on that trip. Remember and ask me about it then.”
“Yes sir.”
(07/26/06 1000 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Caradoc stood outside the church and watched the people talking amongst themselves as they filed out after the service. Naomi twined her fingers through his and leaned against him. “Sir, I’m not sure how I feel about church.” Her voice was low, an obvious attempt to avoid letting anyone else hear their conversation.
He replied just a quietly. “That’s ok; it was something new to me as well. I haven’t been to a Wolf service in quite some time, but it wasn’t anything like that.” He glanced at her and dropped his voice further. “I don’t think we’ll be coming back.”
“What’s one of your services like?”
He rubbed his fingers over hers. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s alive. You feel the presence of the Wolf around you.”
“Can I try one of his services?”
“I don’t think there is a priest on this world. If there is, it’ll be at our destination tomorrow.” He smiled when Calvin Henry approached. “Good morning.”
Calvin was a large man who showed what Richard would look like one day, but there was an air of gentleness about him that belied his size. His voice was deep and warm. “Good morning to you, Mr. Bishop. I’m glad you and your harem could make it to the service. Regretfully, most tamers leave their pokegirls at home.”
Caradoc gave him a curious look, trying to decide where this conversation was going. “They’re my family and they go where I do.” On his other side, Shima was trying to watch in all directions at once as people eddied past them. Veronica had moved to lean against the wall of the church. There nobody could get behind her and she could focus on her job of guarding her tamer.
“Most tamers don’t think that way.”
“I don’t really care what they think.”
Henry nodded as if in confirmation. “Next week we’ll be having a luncheon after the service. During it I want to introduce you to some influential people in the church. I understand from Amelia that you’re setting up a rather interesting farm and they may want to give you their support.”
Caradoc kept his face still at the thought of yet another group that wanted to profit from his hard work. “Thanks, but we won’t be back. I’ll still bring Amelia and her family here if they want, but this isn’t for us.”
Calm eyes met his. “I see. May I ask why you won’t give us a try for at least a month? Doesn’t that seem fair?”
“Your God wants my worship and there’s nothing fair in that battle. I know that there are other gods and your religion denies that. I won’t deny the Wolf.”
“We’ve already accepted that God presents different things to different people. Your god is probably an aspect of God that hasn’t been explored yet.”
Caradoc shook his head. “Unlike your God, the Wolf is not a jealous god and he makes no claims to omniscience or omnipotence. He does, however value his individuality and he is no aspect of any other god.”
“A theological discussion with you might prove very interesting. Is this wolf one of the Norse gods worshipped by pagans, perchance?”
Warning, this discussion is entering dangerous waters. The Wolf may or may not be worshipped on Haven, but it is very unlikely that it is worshipped anywhere else on this world.
Caradoc smiled. “With all due respect, pastor, to me you are the pagan. I’m not a priest and I don’t think I could give you a good debate. If I run across one, I’ll let you know.”
“If you change your mind, I’ll be here.”
“Rest assured I’ll remember that.”
Amelia and Nancy came up. “Caradoc, I want to take you and the pastor to lunch.”
Naomi gave her a stony look as Caradoc shook his head. “I’ve got to get back to the farm. There’s work that needs done if we’re going to leave on time tomorrow.” He supposed from her surprised look that he should have prefaced that with the customary “I’m sorry, but” bit, but he wasn’t sorry and wasn’t going to pretend he was.
She looked a little hurt at his blunt response. “Oh. Can we stay then and visit with my brother in law?”
“Of course you can.”
“Thank you. What time should we expect Shima here to get us?”
Caradoc looked thoughtful. “It should be sometime Wednesday afternoon. That should be long enough for me to get back from our trip tomorrow.”
“She can’t come back tonight for us?”
“Amelia, I’m not running a shuttle service. I’ve got a lot of work to do today and so do my ladies. I’m not going to have Shima at your call. You are free to stay here if you want, and I’m free to decide when I will return to transport you back to my farm.”
Amelia gave him a frosty look. “You’re a cold man, Caradoc, denying me this small request.”
“Actually, I’m setting boundaries for you. I brought you here as a favor and I went to the service as a favor. I’m not your husband or any other member of your family and I have things that I need and want to do. I’m willing to be your friend if you’ll let me, but I’m not at your command.”
Calvin took his sister in law’s arm. “He’s right. You presume too much on him and that’s not to your credit, Amelia. You always were bossy to Oscar and Ken and they let you get away with it. Apparently you’ve finally found a man you can’t order around.” His eyes twinkled. “Maybe you should marry him.”
“Don’t be a fool, Calvin. I’m done marrying.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t insult your ride home. If he were your husband then he couldn’t just leave you here, but he isn’t and he can.”
Amelia sighed. “I’m sorry I presumed too much on our friendship, Caradoc. Let me get Nancy and Richard and we’ll be ready to leave whenever you are.”
Calvin watched her stride away, her daughter by her side. “She is a good woman. Crystal adored her like an older sister.”
“I know she is.” Caradoc suppressed a yawn. “Like almost everyone in the world, however, she’ll take until someone finally says no. It’s not something important enough for me to get upset about. She could have stayed until Wednesday without any real problems at the farm.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Was Crystal your wife?”
A distant sorrow filled Calvin’s eyes. “Yes, she was. She survived the plagues only to die a year later from tetanus. All she did was step on a tiny bit of rusty metal and I lost her.”
Caradoc nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“That’s kind of you. Did you lose anyone?”
“Before I met my ladies, I had lost my entire family.” He squeezed Naomi’s hand and smiled when she squeezed back. “Is there anyone here that can claim to being untouched by what has happened?”
Calvin shook his head. “No, I suppose not. Will you bring my Amelia and her family back for church?”
“I said I would, as long as they want to come.”
(07/26/06 1345 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Caradoc stared at the rusty axe. “Talk about déjà vu. In Bog Walk I cleaned an axe and I was forced to leave it there for whoever lives there now. Here I sharpened another axe and, being the nice fellow that I am, I gave it to Richard to use. I’ve seen his idea of a sharp axe and he’d have better luck staring at a tree and trying to hate it to death.” He glanced to his right at the blanket spread out on the ground. “And now I’m doing it again. I wonder who I’ll give this one to. Maybe it’ll be you. Would you like an axe?” He chuckled. “Are you listening to me?”
Winona blew a bubble and giggled.
“Why not, be just like your mother and try to ignore me.” He went back to working on the axe. “The secret that Richard doesn’t understand is that the edge has to be even along the entire blade. He also seems to think that axes should have a razor edge to them, which is, of course, completely wrong.” He looked up when Winona grunted. The infant nightmare had rolled over onto her stomach and was trying to push herself upright again. “You’re just going to fall over. That’s all you ever do.”
She shoved herself up, toppled sideways and made an angry noise. “I warned you.” He went back to the axe head. “I don’t know how precocious you’re supposed to be and neither does your mother. Have you reached your limits yet?” Winona toppled sideways again and screamed in a mixture of rage and frustration. “That’s it, you tell the universe to shove it.” He glanced up and stopped in surprise when she growled and her body shimmered like heat lighting. When the shimmers died, she’d changed into her centaur form. “Well now, that’s new.”
Caradoc got up and settled down in front of his daughter. She was kicking her back legs angrily. “Your diaper wasn’t set up for this and it is binding. Hold still and let me take the diaper off.” He knew she’d ignore him, but children needed to hear voices, both to soothe them as well as to aid with cognitive development. Since he despised the baby talk he’d heard Amelia saying to her, he just talked around and to her like his parents had done to his younger siblings.
Winona glared at him and cussed in baby while he held her down and removed her diaper. “Now we’re going to have to figure out how to put this on you.” He fiddled with it briefly and redid it over her rump, carefully making a hole for her leonine tail. “You know, if I docked your tail this would be a lot easier. However, I have to admit it’s a pretty cute tail, so we’ll let it stay for a while longer.” He let her go and she promptly rolled over onto her equine torso. “I’d think about this carefully before I did anything rash. You’ll be a little taller in this form and it means,” he broke off as she lunged upright on all four legs and promptly fell headfirst onto the blanket. “Yeah, if you’d waited, I was trying to warn you about that. You’ve got a farther distance to fall now.”
Winona raged at him as he checked her over. “It’s a good thing pokekits tend to be tough. You didn’t even break your skin; much less break that hard head of yours.” He leaned down and gave her a conspiratorial wink. “You may not know this, but you get your temper from your mother. I had nothing to do with it, honest.” She broke off her yelling to stare at him, her red eyes wide. He tickled her nose and she sneezed on him. “Did I really deserve that?” He wiped himself off and rolled the infant onto her equine torso again. “And I was going to help you, too.” He lifted her into the air and waited for her to stop kicking all four legs. “Now you hold still and I’ll stand you up.” He lowered her carefully until her feet touched the ground and then arranged her legs to hold her weight. When he let her go, she wobbled for a second before steadying. “There you go.”
Winona looked around, realized what had happened and promptly fell over in surprise.
Caradoc laughed quietly as she snarled in anger and pushed herself upright. She looked at him and held out her arms. “What, you want to go again?” She cussed at him in baby once more. “Who would expect language like that from such a pretty girl? It’s a good thing those aren’t real words.” He reached out and gathered her into his arms. “Let’s try that again.” He held her up and she immediately put her legs in the position he’d arranged them in. “I think we have a certified genius in my hands. That makes sense since sometimes I think your mother is certifiable. That was a joke, but don’t tell her I said that.” He lowered her until she balanced on her legs and held her until she steadied. “Ok, I’m going to let you go now.” He slowly released her, but kept his hands close in case she started to fall again.
Winona swayed for a few seconds before steadying. She looked up at him and laughed. “Gods, but I’ve finally found a nightmare prettier than your mother. We probably need to keep this to ourselves. She might try to fix us up again. Of course, if she laughed as freely as you did, she might just be prettier than you. I’ll have to try and find out.”
Winona tried to take a step and promptly fell over, her sides heaving as she sucked air. “Yeah, that’s probably enough for now. Besides, I want to see your mother’s face when you do this in front of her. Just remember, that’ll actually be your first time.” He shrugged and handed her the bottle. “I’m still not sure why, but first things are supposed to be important to mothers. She sure was impressed the first time you power pooped and shit came out the back of your diaper.”
He watched her as she fed and then wound down like a toy whose batteries were dying. “Yeah, you recharge so you can surprise your mother with your new trick.”
(07/26/06 1820 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima looked her daughter over. “When did she transform?”
Caradoc looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure when. I didn’t see it happen. I just looked up and she’d changed. It seemed to wipe her out and she was sound asleep.”
Winona held out her arms at him and made a happy noise.
Whoops. This could be a problem.
Caradoc ignored his twee. “I think she wants picked up.” He rubbed his chin. “You know, she’s pretty precocious. Do you think she’ll stand?”
“I have no idea.” Shima batted Naomi’s hands away as the elfqueen reached for the pokekit. “I, however, will be the one the find out.” She glared at Naomi as she gathered her daughter in her arms. Winona snuggled into her mother’s arms as Shima turned to Caradoc. “How do you think I should do this?”
“I’d try just standing her up. If you set her legs out a bit from her torso, they’ll act like a four legged stand if she just holds them steady. It’s an almost instinctive pose.”
Shima held her daughter out and the kit immediately posed her legs. “I think you’re right. She’s ready to do this.” The nightmare carefully lowered her daughter to the floor and smiled as she released Winona, who wobbled for a few seconds before standing proudly. “My daughter is standing! Isn’t she wonderful?”
Naomi chuckled. “That she is.”
Winona lifted a cautious foot and put it back down as she started to topple. She experimented briefly with lifting her other feet one at a time and finally managed to stumble forward a step before freezing in surprise. She tried the motion again with the same leg and moved forward another step. Her face lit up and she burbled happily at her mother.
“She’s walking!” Shima moved back a step and held out her arms. “Winona, come to me.” A grin threatened to split her face as her daughter shakily wobbled in her direction. “That’s it. You can do it.”
Winona got a couple of steps from her mother before exhaustion took its toll and she fell. Shima caught her before she hit the ground and held her tightly. “You did wonderfully.” Winona panted and belched liquid on her mother’s dress.
Caradoc shook his head. “Remember this moment well. I suspect that if she’s like other quadrupeds that I’ve heard about, once she gets a little stronger we may fondly remember the days when she wasn’t galloping around all over the place.”
“We need to put her on a leash.”
Shima swung around to glare at Naomi. “We will do no such thing.”
The elfqueen didn’t back down. “I’m not suggesting it because I want to do it to her. She’s my daughter too, but if Caradoc is right, then if we don’t leash her until she’s old enough to understand the dangers, one of these days she’ll race into the woods or down to the river and get taken by a feral.” She stroked the panting kit with a gentle hand. “Then we won’t have her at all. And I don’t know what we’ll do if she learns how to phase before then. It may help to protect her from attack, but it will help her to evade us once she phases through her leash.”
Shima shook her head. “I can catch her when she’s phased. Just like ghost types can touch each other when they’re incorporeal; I can interact with other phased beings as long as we’re both phased.”
“Yes, but what happens if her phase gives out halfway through something?” Naomi winced at the fear that flickered through her harem sister’s eyes. “I’m only asking because I’m worried too.”
Veronica pushed away from the wall where she’d been watching the others with the pokekit. “You’ll do what you’ve been doing so far, you’ll give Winona the very best care and attention that you can. It’ll be enough to keep her safe.”
Caradoc eyed her speculatively. “You forgot something.”
The valkyrie gave him a blank look. “What, sir?”
“You’ll be helping too, which means that you should have said ‘we’ instead of ‘you’.”
A worried look appeared on Veronica’s face. “Sir, I’m not really a part of your family and I doubt Shima would trust me to watch Winona.”
“She’ll have to learn, because you are part of this family.”
“I almost killed you, sir.”
“I haven’t forgotten what you did, and my life wasn’t ever truly in danger. It was just in a lot of pain. That’s one of the reasons I really want to get to Haven. They’ll have what we need to prevent it from happening again.”
“Why would they have that?”
Naomi looked up. “According to our master, Haven has more experience with pokegirls than anyone else on the planet. If anyone can help us, they can.”
“I really hope you’re right.”
“I am, and I’ll prove it tomorrow.”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit