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Eleven
(08/11/06 1230 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima made a notation on a checklist as Veronica placed a full sack of coffee beans neatly on the stack. “Isn’t that supposed to be the last one?”
The valkyrie nodded. “We have more sacks ready, but our master is very careful not to overload you for tomorrow’s trip. Where are we going?”
“We’re going to Mandeville. It’s in the central western portion of the island, which puts it almost due south of us. Mandeville has a population of six thousand. It’s an industrialized area and Caradoc thinks it should be a good place to sell some of our products. We can’t be sure until we visit it, which is the reason behind this trip.”
“What do they do there?” Veronica stretched to loosen her back muscles.
“They mine bauxite and smelter it into aluminum. Metal production is vital to the recovery efforts being made by the Tropic League.” She glanced up to see the valkyrie staring at her in surprise. “What?
“You know a lot about things that it would never occur to me to investigate.”
The nightmare chuckled. “Caradoc told me about it last night. He wants us to know about the farm as well as potential customers.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t look disappointed. Your turn will come.” Shima began double checking the list against the pile of stuff for shipment. “I know he’s been talking to Naomi about using you to make smaller shipments to communities after they start ordering in advance.” She looked up. “That means you’ll be doing some very heavy training in the near future since you can carry much heavier loads than Cloud can. It also means he trusts you to do the job.”
Veronica visibly perked up. “Will I be flying security for you on this trip?”
“No. You’ll be staying as the harem’s representative while Naomi and I are gone.”
Veronica suddenly looked worried. “That’s a lot of responsibility for me. I haven’t been here that long.”
“No, you haven’t,” Shima agreed quietly, “but he trusts you to do what’s needed and, perhaps more importantly, not to interfere with the elves when it isn’t necessary. Don’t prove him wrong.”
The valkyrie squared her shoulders. “I won’t.”
(08/11/06 1630 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“We’ll have fruit ready for picking in about a week, so you’ll need to decide where we’re going to take it.” Naomi watched a pair of elves as they examined some trees near the house for problems.
“Montego is closest.” Bishop rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I don’t suppose there’s a pokegirl that can add about four hours to the day?”
The elfqueen gave him an amused look. “Shima keep you up last night?”
“Yes, and you kept me up the night before. Mind you, I’m not complaining.”
“With all due respect, it sounds like you are from where I’m standing.”
“I guess as long as you are respectful about it.” They shared a chuckle. “It’s just that I’ve got a long list of things I want to do and not enough sunlight to do them in.”
“Do you want to see if we can set up some sort of lighting system? My light spell won’t last long enough for something like that.”
“I’m of two minds about that. I’d like some electricity for a lot of reasons, but it’s nice to be able to knock off work not long after dark.” He slipped an arm around her waist. “Things have worked out so far. I don’t doubt that’ll continue whether or not we can work into the wee hours of the morning.”
She rested her head against his. “What can we do to make that list happen? You know I’ll work the elves until they drop if it makes you happy.”
“I know, and I know I have to be careful not to let you do that to them. My happiness isn’t the most important thing around here. I think the first thing I need to do is look at that list and decide what I have to do as opposed to what I want to do. I suspect that’ll knock the list down a whole lot.”
“We had a new arrival last night. A grandelf.” Naomi frowned. “I’m not completely sure I’m happy about her presence here.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Since I wasn’t an elfqueen then, I didn’t deal with them much during the war, but every one that I saw managed to finagle her way into an advisory position. Most of the time her advice seemed adequate, but we don’t need advisors here. We need workers.”
He gave her a curious look. “Are you saying that they don’t come into contact with elves much due to their duties? Or is it that they avoid dealing with elves since they’re not elfqueens?”
“I think many of them feel that elves are beneath their notice. I could be wrong, but that’s the attitude I got. I also got the feeling that they’re not excited about manual labor.” Naomi paused for a second. “She’s also already expressed an interest in my relationship with you and her chances to join our harem.”
Some grandelves have been known to subvert the local elfqueen’s control of her elves. If that happened here, she’d want you to be her tamer. Her interest in the harem so soon may be a sign that this is an ambitious grandelf.
Caradoc looked thoughtful. “I think she may need to find a home where she’ll be a better fit. We can take her to Montego and sell her to the Tropics.”
Naomi looked relieved. “I’ll take care of it. What if she doesn’t want to leave?”
“I’m running a farm, not a refuge. She doesn’t have the right to insist on staying.”
“I may have to put her into a pokeball,” Naomi warned him softly.
“If you have to pokeball her, then you have to pokeball her.”
“When are we going to Montego next?”
“It’ll be tomorrow or the day after that, but definitely after we get back from Mandeville.”
Naomi slipped her arm through his. “She won’t go feral from a couple of days in a pokeball. I’ll catch her tonight, after she goes to sleep.”
(08/12/06 0600 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima gave the falling drizzle an annoyed look from where she stood in the doorway. “I don’t suppose we could put off going until after this passes?”
“It’s not going to.” Naomi peered at the clouds. “My forecasting spell this morning indicates it’s going to rain like this all day. I did check the pokedex and the satellite view shows it’s not raining in Mandeville.”
“I’ll still have to stand in that to load the supplies we’re taking.” She yelped when Naomi shoved her outside and into the rain. “What was that for?”
The elfqueen gave her an even look. “Now you’re wet and you can quit bitching about having to get wet.” Behind her, Caradoc stifled his laughter. “Now, move, mare.”
Shima grumbled as she stomped off. Caradoc finished his tea and rinsed out his cup in the bucket of rinse water next to the sink. They still didn’t have running water and it probably wouldn’t be available for a while yet. “Was that really necessary?”
“Yes, it was.” Naomi didn’t bother to turn away from watching Shima head for the tarp covering the supplies.
“Ok.” Caradoc stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her back and another on her ass. When she started to lean back into his touch, he shoved her outside. “Your turn.” Laughing, he stepped out into the rain to join her.
Behind them, Veronica laughed with him as she stayed in the shelter of the house.
Bishop’s laughter was short lived when his elfqueen and beloved alpha used her enhanced strength to pick up the rain barrel next to the house and upend it over him, dumping all fifty gallons of cold water on his head. She carefully put the barrel back into place and gave him a cheerful smile. “Your correction is noted, sir.”
Caradoc looked down at the water dripping from his soaked clothing and lunged for her. “Someone needs a hug.”
Naomi danced backwards and then ran for Shima.
A half hour later, Caradoc had been dried off enough that Shima would let him on her back and, after stopping at the house to collect Winona, they took off and headed for Mandeville. Naomi had been put into her pokeball for the trip, leaving him alone with the two nightmares.
“I’ve got a question. You’re running phased and we’re not getting wet from the rain.”
Shima glanced over her shoulder at him. “That’s right. We’re passing through the raindrops as I run.”
“All right, I get that. So is it my imagination, or am I not drying off?”
“You’re not imagining it. That’s one of the oddities of the phased state. Evaporation doesn’t take place here.” The nightmare shrugged. “I’ve never talked to anyone who knew why.”
“That’s fascinating, but now I understand why you were reluctant to go out into the rain. We’re going to be wet until we get to Mandeville.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, the flight is supposed to take us about twenty minutes at your current speed. How about you go full speed and see how much we can cut that down.”
Shima laughed and went to a full gallop. “As my tamer commands.”
(08/12/06 0830 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Veronica settled back in the chair and sipped at her tea. She’d made the rounds of the farm. Keeping in mind Shima’s advice not to interfere if it wasn’t necessary, she’d found that there wasn’t really anything for her to do. “I guess it’s back to digging ditches, since we always need more of those.”
Her eyes fell on the corkboard mounted next to the door. Naomi and Caradoc used it to chart the progress of the various projects around the farm. The valkyrie rose and wandered over to examine it as she finished her drink. There were a lot of ongoing projects and between Bishop and Naomi everything was well documented. There were comments on what was currently being done and the resources matched to each job. There was also a list of future projects and the resources needed to make them a reality. Resources currently unavailable were notated in red. Ink was at a premium, so all the writing was done in colored pencil, the kind that were called map colors in the local schools. A coffee can full of these pencils was set high on a shelf where Winona couldn’t get at them.
Another list was of projects that could be done with available resources but were on hold due to time constraints or other considerations and it was this list that she carefully read over, her lips moving silently as she worked her way through the words.
Reading was still new to her and while it was a wonderful thing, she didn’t really care all that much for it except as a tool to enable her to do her job better. She readily admitted that she was a fighter at heart and that thought wasn’t her strong point. She knew that Naomi and Shima were both smarter than she was and it didn’t bother her in the slightest. She was stronger than both of them combined and that would have to suffice to make her stand out from the group.
She realized that she’d been reading the same project line over and over and smiled when she realized that this one could be done now, and with only minimal disruption to the work the elves were doing around the farm.
As a woman of action, to think was to do and she finished her tea, washed the cup according to the rules Naomi had insisted on, and headed out into the drizzle.
She was looking for a particular elf and found Lori on the porch outside the house the elves were using for fixing meals. The elf was sharpening a hoe and looked up when Veronica came in. “Morning.”
“Morning. Were you on patrol last night?” If Lori had been on patrol, what Veronica wanted to do would wait until she’d had a chance to rest.
Lori shook her head. “No, and I won’t go out again for a couple of days. We’re doing four day long patrols that check back at the farm every evening so we don’t wander too far away. Today I’m working on tool upkeep and repair.”
“I need your help. There’s a wagon in town and we’re going to get it.”
Lori looked at her curiously. “Why do you need me for that?”
“You’re the only one still here who knows where it is.”
“That makes sense.”
Motion out of the corner of eye caught her attention and she looked to the right. Standing in the doorway to the house was Sky. The avariel was nibbling on some bread as she watched it rain. When she noticed the valkyrie, she turned back into the kitchen and disappeared. Veronica jerked her head in the direction of the door. “What’s she doing today?”
Lori made a face. “Nothing. The queen is gone and she doesn’t want to get her feathers wet.”
“What about Cloud?”
“She’s down at the river setting out fish traps and gathering wild herbs.”
Veronica’s face set. “What is Sky supposed to be doing?”
“Helping Cloud.”
“Are you telling me she’s down there alone?”
“No, Tiny is with her.” At 177 centimeters, or 5’10”, Tiny was the tallest elf that Veronica had ever seen. She wasn’t really that tall for other pokegirls, but for elves she was a giant. “Tiny happens to be the best at finding herbs of all of us.” Lori grinned. “She says it’s because of her height. Claims it allows her to see farther than the rest of us can.”
Considering that the elves had all chosen their own names, such a statement sounded about right for Tiny’s sense of humor. Veronica chuckled. “I suppose that works for her. If you‘re not too busy, I want to go get that wagon now.”
Lori shrugged and put the hoe down. “Ok.”
“Just a moment.” Veronica headed over to the doorway. “Sky, you’re coming with us. We’re going to go get a wagon.”
Sky gave her an amused look. “My queen hasn’t told me to go with you.”
Veronica grabbed her by the throat and pulled the elf up to look into her eyes. “You’ve had it too easy here for too long, Sky. I am in the harem and when I say you do something only two people can tell you otherwise.” She smiled grimly at the avariel as she tried unsuccessfully to peel the valkyrie’s fingers from her throat. “And both of them aren’t here right now.” When she realized that Sky was turning purple, she relaxed her grip slightly so the flying elf could breathe. “Do you know why you’re going to help me?”
Sky’s eyes were big as she stared at her captor, but apparently she wasn’t cowed enough to lose her arrogance. “You’ll beat me up if I don’t?” She squawked when Veronica shook her from side to side. Her wings scraped along the ground.
“I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sky. You’re useless. Everyone knows it but you. Your queen, and my alpha, is about ready to chop your head off because you don’t produce anything except fertilizer.” Veronica’s voice remained light and friendly as she summoned her sword in her free hand. “I will save her the trouble if you give me any more lip.” The avariel froze. “Now, we’re going to get that wagon and you’re going to help me pull it back to the ranch. If you slack off at any point during the trip, I’ll leave your body for the gulls. You might want to remember that you can’t outfight me and you can’t out fly me.” She released Sky’s throat. “And you’re going to do it now.”
“I thought I was going to help you.” Lori was watching the events with a satisfied expression.
“You are. You know where the wagon is and you’ll provide security while Sky and I get it.”
“Why can’t I provide security?” Sky’s voice was plaintive.
“You can’t fight. I expect if we have trouble you’ll run away like you always do, but I need someone who’ll at least warn me while she’s running. I don’t trust you to do even that.” She dismissed her sword. “Now let’s get moving.”
(08/12/06 1000 Mandeville, Tropic League)
“I think you need a break.” Shima settled down in the chair behind the booth and checked Winona’s chain. “It’s ten.”
Naomi gave her a nervous look. “I know. Where’s our master?” They weren’t alone and both of them knew they had to pretend to follow the same rules that other pokegirls did.
“I’m right here.” Caradoc dropped a bag next to his nightmare. “I got some seeds for crops we don’t have and picked up a book on making beer and wine.”
Shima stuffed the sack into the backpack next to her. “Sir, with all due respect, I think it’s time for Naomi to get a break so she can see the market.” She fixed him with her crimson eyes. “It’s time.”
“Always mission oriented, aren’t you?” Bishop sighed and turned to Naomi. “You look about how I feel right now.”
She blinked. “You do?”
“Of course I’m nervous. We’ve never done this before. And I’ve decided to change the plans. I’m going with you.”
“Sir? Is that wise?”
“It’s not going to hurt me and I don’t want you alone right now. Shima, you’ve got the booth.” He raised his voice slightly. “I order you to not to let anyone, no matter how highly placed in the league hierarchy, rob us or demand a special deal. Only I can authorize those.”
The nightmare was looking at him in surprise, but at his words she nodded. “I have the booth, sir.” She gave him a slightly evil grin. “ After those orders, sir, I hope I have to protect it.”
“I hope you don’t. Watch our daughter. Come along, Naomi.”
The elfqueen shouldered her bow and obediently fell in behind him as they headed for the edge of the market. Her voice was low but she knew he’d hear her perfectly well. “You don’t have to do this.”
He didn’t look back at her. “I disagree. You are not going to do this alone.”
“You are the tamer, sir.” She didn’t sound happy.
“And you are my queen. Now get up here and walk beside me.”
“Won’t that get us in trouble?” She sped up and moved next to him.
“I’ll explain that I wanted this so I can look at those magnificent tits.”
Naomi burst out laughing, and he noticed some of the stiffness in her shoulders drain away. “You’re the tamer, sir.”
“Indeed I am.” He stopped to look at some produce. Not far away, interesting smells heralded someone preparing food for sale. The fact that they were in a stall indicated that they were a permanent fixture at the market and the line forming in front of the stall hinted that the food was more then adequate. “This looks like a good place to start,” Caradoc said in a low voice. “We’ll get close to the line and look over the menu before moving on.”
“Yes, sir.” Naomi took a deep breath and activated her earth mother technique. Outwardly nothing happened, but in her mind’s eye she could see the field spring up ten feet away in all directions. For a brief instant she could see Caradoc shimmer. “I’m ready.”
To her, every person entering the field shimmered the same way Bishop had and it didn’t matter if they walked into the field or if her walking swept it over them. The two of them walked up the line of people waiting to order their food before apparently deciding they weren’t interested and heading through the growing lunch crowd. They spent half an hour wandering around and the whole time Naomi kept the field active.
When they approached where their booth was, Caradoc placed a hand on her arm. “I think we’re done, so please make sure that Shima doesn’t get any surprises.”
Naomi chuckled. “She would be rather unhappy about that, wouldn’t she?”
Naomi chuckled. “She would be rather unhappy about that, wouldn’t she?”
“That too, but I was thinking more about how it’s your turn next. That’s what you wanted, remember?”
She blinked and flushed. “I have been very careful around our people, but thanks for reminding me. You are absolutely correct. RHIP and all.”
“That’s right.” Caradoc headed for their stand. “Now to get back to selling our wares.”
Shima eyed them with a hint of nervousness as they approached, but didn’t otherwise acknowledge their presence until they were at the booth. “Sir, business has been brisk. In fact, we may run out of supplies before long.”
“That’s good to hear, Shima. It’s kind of a pity we can’t bring more, but it’s also nice since we can’t bring so much that it brings prices down.”
The nightmare nodded as she watched Naomi. How was your walk?”
Naomi gave her a broad smile. “Productive.”
Shima looked startled. “I’ll bet,” she muttered.
A little while later Caradoc finished a sale of coffee and looked around. “Is that the last of it?”
“Yes sir.” Naomi had started putting their belongings in the pokepack. “We can stay for a while if you want, but we don’t have any real reason to stay.”
“Then let’s get back to the farm.” He checked a notebook that they’d notated their sales in. “I’ll look this over and see what sold the fastest. That’ll give us a better idea of what they want to buy here in Mandeville.” He looked up. “Sorry, we’re all out of everything.”
The woman nodded sadly. “I was afraid of that. Nobody else has fresh coffee. When will you be coming back?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Sir, here.”
Caradoc blinked in surprise when Naomi plunked a small sack into his hand. “Oh, it looks like we’ve still got a pound of coffee. Are you interested?”
After the woman made her purchase and left he gave his elfqueen a curious look. “Where did that come from?”
“I kept a pound back in case we had to bribe someone.” Naomi nodded at the departing woman. “I saw her on our walk and overheard someone talking to her. She’s the mayor’s wife and I don’t think it hurts to let her think we knew who she was and expected her.”
“No, it doesn’t hurt at all. Good job. Now let’s get out of here.”
(08/13/06 0600 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Naomi took her cup and walked over to do her daily perusal of the bulletin board. She took a deep drink and put the cup down to pull a black pencil and an eraser from the coffee can.
Every day she updated the progress of the various projects that were ongoing. It helped her to not only know what had been done, but how to allocate the elves and the harem members to do the most good. Her weather forecast spell had told her that the day was going to be dry, but the ground would still be wet, and the changes she made to the duty roster took that into account. Wet ground would make some things too inefficient to bother with right now, but it would make others much easier, moving them up on the priority list.
She finished and looked over the whole board quickly to see if she’d missed anything. Her eyebrows curved downward quizzically when she noticed the blue writing on the Future Projects sheet. Blue was seldom used because it was designated for noting possible pokegirl acquisitions that would be of great benefit to the farm and Caradoc was more interested in seeing what use he could get from their current pokegirl roster instead of wasting time dreaming of what they could do if they had other pokegirls.
The lettering was crude and done in blocky capitals. The word was also nonsense, and her frown became a glare. Nobody was allowed to write on this board except for her and Caradoc. Not even Shima would dare and her anger began to build. First, however, she’d have to let Caradoc know about this desecration of the order in their life. She knew he was already up, so she went to the staircase and softly called up it. “Caradoc.”
He appeared a moment later, buttoning up his shirt. “What is it?”
“Someone wrote on the board. Someone else.”
Apparently this wasn’t quite as earthshaking to him as it was to her. Maybe he didn’t understand the depth of this person’s depravity because he just looked curious. “Really? What did they write?”
“Nobody is supposed to write on this except us.” Naomi led him to the board and pointed. “See. I didn’t write it and it’s not your handwriting.”
“No, it’s not.” He bent down and looked closely. “Doon.” He frowned. “I wonder if they meant to write ‘done’.”
“I don’t care what they meant to write,” Naomi snapped. “Nobody else is supposed to write on this.”
Caradoc grabbed the eraser and scrubbed away the blue. “There. It’s all gone now.” He gave her an amused look and she snorted. “That’s better, right?”
“I want to know who wrote on it.”
“I did.” Veronica yawned as she came down the stairs. “That’s what we’re supposed to do, right?”
Naomi gritted her teeth and started forward, only to stop in surprise when Caradoc put his hand on her arm. “Wait. Veronica, why did you write on it?”
“The job got finished, so I was trying to let you know.” She looked at the elfqueen’s face. “I screwed up again, didn’t I?”
Naomi started to speak but Caradoc put his hand over her mouth. She glared at him as he spoke. “What job?”
“We got the wagon.” Veronica watched them warily. “That’s why I marked the job done.”
Naomi had had enough. “And just how did you get the wagon?”
“Sky and I pulled it while Lori rode on it and stood guard. It needs new tires, one of them came apart and we had to finish pulling it on the rim.” She focused on the more sympathetic looking Caradoc. “I’m stronger than everyone here and since there wasn’t anything I could do at the farm without violating Shima’s rule, I borrowed Lori and Sky to get the wagon.”
“What rule?”
“She told me that I was supposed to watch the farm while you were gone and that I had to remember to do what needed to be done, but more importantly, not to interfere with the elves when it wasn’t necessary. That’s what I did, sir. Lori was killing time sharpening tools and Sky was loafing. Besides, Lori was the only one here who knew where the wagon was.”
Naomi was calming down, so Caradoc let her go. “How much did Sky help?”
Veronica shrugged. “I grabbed her on impulse because I was tired of watching her do nothing. She wasn’t able to help much, but after our chat, she did do her damnedest to try.”
“What chat?” Naomi was looking curiously at her. “I’d like to know what you said that motivated her. What was it?”
“I told her the truth, which was that you were considering having her killed, so if she slacked off during this task, I felt it wasn’t a problem to go ahead and give her the chop.” Veronica reached cautiously for a biscuit. “Apparently no one has been honest with her about her usefulness here.”
Naomi and Caradoc exchanged a rueful look. “She’s right,” the elfqueen murmured. “We’ve been too concerned about hurting her feelings and at the same time I’ve been planning to eliminate her if she doesn’t shape up.”
Bishop had a thoughtful expression. “You’ve been complaining that you need more time for administrative work now that we’re doing the daily relay with the radio.”
Once they’d gotten comfortable with the shortwave, Montego had set up a daily routine where they transmitted to Bishop, who passed it on to Bog Walk. Bog Walk then sent the messages on to Kingston. In the evening, the path was reversed, giving Jamaica regular message traffic between the two regional capitals for the first time.
Naomi nodded. “I don’t have enough time to do everything, but where are you going with this?”
Caradoc didn’t answer her directly, instead turning back to Veronica. “Do you think you can keep motivating Sky?”
Veronica swallowed her bite of food and took a drink while she considered her answer. “Sure. I’ve already scared her. If I make her useful and let her know she’s useful, she should fall into line after a couple of corrections. Few people really want to die.”
“Can you relay Naomi’s orders to the others?”
Veronica nodded. “Lori’s the best of the bunch and you can trust her to carry out whatever you tell her to do. I can handle the others.”
“Naomi, I think we’ve found you a foreman. Veronica did a great job getting the wagon and now you can stop pestering me and Shima about going to get it. I think we should let her have the chance to see if she can be the foreman while you focus on the new projects and the other admin.”
Veronica looked surprised. “You think I can help?” Determination filled her eyes. “I don’t want to get the chop either and I’d be glad to do this for you and my alpha.”
“Who said you were going to get removed?”
“Nobody, but I know I’m the newcomer. That means I’m being judged.” She smiled. “Valkyrie do it to all the newbies. Feral and aware alike, we do it.”
Naomi nodded. “You can’t write on the board, at least not until I give you some lessons in spelling and lettering. You almost punched a hole in the paper with the pencil. However, if you can do this, it’ll take a load off of my shoulders and your place here will be assured.”
Veronica bounced to her feet. “Done!”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit