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Fifteen
(08/23/06 0900 Kingston, Tropic League)
Shima slowed to a trot as she air walked wide circles over the area where Caradoc had been attacked and looked over her shoulder at him. “Why are we doing this?”
“We need to keep that pokegirl penned in until it starts to get dark. If she tries to sneak out, I should spot her.”
You mean I will sense the motion using your poor excuse for eyes. Maybe you can get an upgrade to electronic.
Bishop ignored the jibe. “If we can keep her here until dark, we can find her.”
“How?”
“I can see into the infrared if I need to. Even if she’s hidden, at that point, hopefully, I’ll be able to easily see where she is.”
“You can’t do that all the time?”
“You can’t do that all the time?”
“I could, but it gives me a headache and I’d rather see your beauty unencumbered by heat patterns.”
The nightmare chuckled. “Do you ever miss a chance to flatter us?”
“Not if I’m paying attention. Did it work?”
Her chuckle became a laugh. “Maybe.” In her carrier, Winona laughed too. “Does that mean we’re going to stay up here until dark?”
“It means I will. You’re a much more stable platform than Veronica, so I’m getting baseline observations from your back. Later, you and she will switch off carrying me so you can tend to Winona and get a bite to eat. I’ll be fine for an afternoon.”
“You’ll have to pee eventually.”
He grinned mischievously. “Then I hope nobody is underneath me.”
His ride snorted in amusement. “What happens if you do find her?”
“Naomi has my pokedex and I’ll contact her through my twee.” He’d had to explain about the inorganic intelligence that rode inside him a while ago. While his entire harem was intrigued about the concept, Veronica wasn’t sure she wanted one of her own.
Shima interrupted his thoughts. “The next time we go to Haven, we should get some infrared detectors so we can help you. It would also help in spotting feral pokegirls before they get into the crops.” She jumped when he hugged her hard from behind. “What was that for?”
“For having a great idea. I’ll order them today so they’ll be waiting for us.”
Shima leaned back against him for a moment, before going back to paying attention to where they were going. “Stop that. You’ll never see her bolt for freedom if you’re looking over my shoulders at my tits.”
He laughed and resumed the job of watching the ground as it flowed underneath them.
(08/23/06 1830 Kingston, Tropic League)
Veronica banked and turned as she climbed for the next thermal. The sun was going down and long shadows stretched across the ground, throwing large pools of darkness over portions of the area beneath them. “Naomi is unhappy with you. Or perhaps she’s unhappy because of you.”
Caradoc was nestled snugly in her arms and he knew better than to turn to look at her. She’d almost dropped him the first time he’d started twisting around. “She is? Why?”
“She didn’t say, but I don’t think you two have been apart this long since you met.”
Bishop blinked and thought about it. “That’s true, but it’s still silly. She can see me and it’s not like I’m off cavorting or otherwise having a good time without her.”
“I never said it made sense, m…, Caradoc.” Her arms tightened for an instant at the pleasure of using his first name.
What are we going to do if she’s already fled the area?
Veronica unknowingly echoed his twee. “I hope she didn’t get away from here. You’ll look pretty bad to your superiors if she did.”
“That’s not important. If she got away, we’ll have to try to find her. In a town of forty thousand or so, it’s going to be difficult to track her down. Right now is our best chance to catch her.”
About ten minutes later Veronica was coming around for another pass when a blue square appeared in his vision, highlighting a weathered wooden crate against the wall of an alley. That box has moved almost two meters since our last pass. His twee superimposed the image from the previous view, showing that crate had moved farther from them. It’s still too bright for a good infrared image, so I can’t evaluate whether or not a human form is in there.
“I may have found something. Don’t change your flight pattern, but drift a bit more in the direction of that alley on your next pass.”
Through your pokedex, I am vectoring Naomi and Shima in to examine the box. I am reminding her that the goal is to attempt to take this pokegirl alive so she can be identified. I have also reminded her that you are not interested in this girl for your harem.
“You’ve got that right. She almost killed me. I don’t want her anywhere near me or my harem.”
Veronica’s arms tightened slightly. “I presume that you have not gone mad and you are talking to your twee?”
“I’m sending Naomi and Shima to investigate the crate in the alley. It’s moved since we last saw it.”
The valkyrie started to turn in that direction and caught herself. “Sorry. Keep the pattern so we don’t spook her, right?”
“That’s right. Especially since we don’t know what she can do and I’m your meat shield right now for any attacks from the ground.”
She chuckled as she left the thermal and began winging her way around another circle. “I agree. I am supposed to be your shield, after all.”
Naomi and Shima are in position.
“Well, shield, turn just a bit so I can see what happens. As soon as something changes, get me over to that warehouse rooftop, ok?”
“Yes sir.” She turned slightly as her wings began beating powerfully. “I’ll drop you off on the roof in passing so I can help if it’s needed.”
They watched as Shima silently air walked out of the building nearest the crate, her hooves floating just above the crate. She stopped beside it and looked down the street as Naomi rose from concealment with her bow in her hands. Darkness congealed in the nightmare’s hands, forming the spear she’d used against Veronica when they’d met. She drove the point into the crate and slashed sideways in a spray of wood. The woman inside fell backwards to sprawl in the alley, watching with wide eyes as the spear point came back to orient on her. “Don’t move,” Shima said in a warning tone.
The pokegirl made a throwing motion and tossed a handful of green powder at the nightmare, who darted sideways with a curse. The stranger scrambled to her feet and ran down the street as Veronica let Caradoc drop as she passed about ten feet above the roof. The valkyrie folded her wings and dropped like a striking falcon.
Behind her, Bishop landed and vanished as the roof caved beneath him. He punched through the roof and sank up to his hips, where he stuck. Frantically, he struggled to get free, ignoring the sharp pain from his leg. His twee accessed his pokedex and fed the image to him in an attempt to see what was going on. The attempt failed simply because the elfqueen had the dex in her pocket.
The strange pokegirl ran down the street as fast as she could to get away until Naomi’s blunt took her in the back of the knee, rupturing muscle and cracking bone. She screamed as her leg was knocked out from under her and rolled around on the ground as she clutched the shattered joint.
Shima’s right front leg didn’t seem to work and she carefully held it up and out of the way as she limped in the direction of her foe. Her mouth twisted in a snarl as she closed on her quarry. The nightmare skidded to a halt as the strange pokegirl hurled more green powder in her direction and clambered to her feet.
Veronica’s feather shuriken hammered the stranger with white bolts of energy that smashed her across the street and into an abandoned car. Windows crazed in the vehicle as she bounced off of it and back into the middle of the street to lie motionless for a second before she feebly began trying to push to her feet. As she soared by overhead, Veronica hurled an empty pokeball into the middle of the girl’s back. The pokeball danced around for almost a minute before the capture tone sounded.
Veronica collected it before trotting over to where Naomi was treating Shima. “Are you ok?”
“The poison made my leg go completely numb and I can’t move it. I’m just glad it didn’t get on Winona.” She checked her daughter. “We need to schedule these things better so I can give her to Caradoc before the fighting begins.” She looked around with a frown. “Where is he?”
Veronica turned and pointed. “He’s on that,” she began, only to break off in confusion. “I dropped him on the roof of that building.”
“You left him alone?” Naomi gave her a withering look. “I told both of you to never do that again.”
“I wanted to get into the fight.”
“If he’s dead, I swear I’ll carve that into your gravestone. Now you get your butt up there and you find out where he is. When you find him, you will stick to him like syrup until he’s with us.”
“Yes, alpha.” Veronica spread her wings and vaulted into the air.
Shima watched her go with neutral eyes. “You’ll probably need me to help kill her.”
“He’s not dead. I’d know if he was.” She smiled at the nightmare’s look of surprise. “Every morning I enchant a seed that I keep in my pocket. It imbues the seed with a tiny bit of Caradoc’s life force. If he dies, it will too. When that happens, I’ll feel the seed die.”
The nightmare blinked. “Do you have one for me?”
“I do. I also have one for Veronica and Winona.” She checked Shima’s leg one last time. “Ok, the toxins are gone. See how it works and then you can fly me up to see what’s wrong with Bishop.”
“Does your seed tell you that something’s wrong?”
“No, the fact that Veronica hasn’t yelled down that nothing is wrong and I was out of line to threaten her does.”
Shima nodded. “Get on.” As soon as Shima was settled, the nightmare bolted into the air and climbed towards the roof Veronica had been pointing at.
They found a frantic looking Veronica, sword in hand, being stared down by a still stuck Caradoc. Naomi slid off of Shima’s back. “What happened?”
The valkyrie dismissed her sword, straightened her shoulders and faced her alpha squarely. “He won’t let me pull him out or cut him free.” It was obvious she expected some kind of punishment.
Naomi patted her on the arm and squatted down in front of her tamer. “What happened to you?”
“When I landed, the roof gave.” He grimaced disgustedly. “I should have thought about how sound it might be.”
“Why didn’t you let Veronica free you?”
“I can’t feel my left leg. When I tried to check it with my right foot, my pant leg got warm and wet. I think it’s impaled and if the femoral artery got damaged I wanted you here before anyone cut me loose.”
“Does it hurt?”
He shook his head. “No and that worries me.”
“Me too.” She looked at Shima. “Do you have a flashlight?”
“I do.” Veronica went digging through her belt pouch and pulled out a tiny light.
“Shima, take Veronica underneath and see how bad he’s hurt.” She turned back to Bishop. “If we can’t get to it, will you bleed out and die?”
“No, I won’t, but if I’m too badly injured, I want you to heal me before anyone else sees it so there aren’t too many awkward questions.” He watched Shima carry Veronica down through the rooftop.
She smiled softly. “You mean in addition to the ones about why we’ve spent the whole day flying around here?”
“Yeah. I think the pokegirl will be better off in Haven, so we can’t reveal that we have her. When we get the pokepack back, we’ll go ahead and use it to store her.”
“You don’t think she’s feral?”
“I’m not sure, but if she’s not, I don’t see where we should let her go feral.” His face blanked. “Someone is playing with my leg.”
A minute later Shima and Veronica came back out through the roof. The valkyrie hopped off the nightmare’s back. The front of her shirt and her right arm were covered with blood. “He’s right. His right leg is jammed under a steel bar and the end is buried in the inner thigh of his left leg. We’ll have to cut the bar before we can lift him out. If I try to pull it out right now, it’ll probably tear a larger hole in his leg.”
“So how do we do that?”
“Shima and I talked about it while we were looking at his leg. The best is for me to give her my sword and she’ll use it to create a second stage dark blade and cleave the rod in two. She might also have to her use ice beam on the rod to make it as brittle as possible. We’re not sure about that.”
Naomi’s eyebrows went up. “Why can’t she use the first stage version? She has to know that technique to learn the second stage.”
Shima shrugged. “My first stage dark blade is the spear you saw me use a little while ago, and as you saw, it’s more of a lance than a chopping weapon. That’s the way it manifests. With her sword, I can reshape it into a cutting blade.”
“We need to get you a knife.”
The nightmare nodded. “I saw some really nice ones in the shop in Haven. Harris knives, I think they were called.”
“I think we’ll hold off on the discussion of what to get you for next time until later.” Caradoc gritted his teeth. “Get down there and do it.”
Shima looked at the valkyrie for a long moment before removing her onbuhimo and handing it to her. “Here. Don’t make me regret this.”
Veronica carefully took the infant. “I won’t. She’s my daughter too.” She held out her hand and summoned her sword. “Here. Don’t forget the flashlight.”
The nightmare took the sword and hefted it before pulling the flashlight from Veronica’s pouch. She turned and trotted down to vanish as she passed through the roof once more.
Below him, Shima turned on the flashlight and examined the scene in the wan beam. Bishop had landed between a pair of the metal support beams that held up the roof. When the roof had collapsed beneath him, he’d fallen on top of a line of metal conduit that ran perpendicular to the beams. He’d impacted directly on top of a connection box in the line and the conduit had pulled free when he’d hit it. As the metal bent, it had driven the end deep into the inside of his thigh and trapped his other leg on top of it.
Shima lifted the sword and focused her will. Blackness enveloped the blade as she poured power into it, making it far sharper and tougher. She slipped the end of the flashlight into her mouth and gripped it with her teeth to free her other hand. An ice beam sprang from it and enveloped one of the support beams. She chopped at it with the sword, turned and repeated the swing at an unfrozen section of beam. The nightmare nodded to herself as she took the flashlight out of her mouth with her free hand. “Veronica was wrong. The ice doesn’t help.” She examined the ends. “There’s more tearing on the frozen metal, probably because I had to cut through the ice first.”
She moved into position to reach the conduit and lined up the sword blade. After double checking to ensure that her tamer would not somehow end up in the path of her stroke, she used her enhanced speed and swung. The sword blurred through the conduit, cleanly severing it. As the only support holding him in place was severed, Caradoc dropped through the hole.
Shima responded almost instantly, dropping both the sword and flashlight. She grabbed wildly at her falling tamer and gasped in relief as she gathered him in against her chest. Blood pulsed against her from his severed femoral artery as the catch ripped the conduit free.
The nightmare galloped almost straight up as she phased them through the roof and Naomi as her alpha knelt and peered down into the darkness inside the warehouse. The elfqueen leapt backwards with a cry of alarm. “Don’t do that!”
“He’s bleeding out.” Shima dropped her phase and dumped Caradoc unceremoniously in front of Naomi. “Heal him.”
Caradoc was busy pressing his fist against the pressure point in his left leg. “You could have used cocoon of darkness to start the process.”
She gave him a surprised look that turned wry as Naomi crouched and began healing him. “You’re right. I’ll try not to panic so badly when my next tamer gets ripped open.”
“Darn, you’re almost trained and you’re leaving?” They shared a chuckle
Naomi settled down next to him. “I’ve healed your leg, but you lost a lot of blood. You’ll be weak until it gets replaced. As for your desire for people not to know you’ve been seriously injured, we’ll have to sneak you off so you can bathe and change clothes.”
He nodded. “And then we get back to work with the dispensers.”
(08/25/06 0500 Kingston, Tropic League)
Caradoc tried to jerk upright when the pounding on the door started. As he did so, Veronica mumbled something and tightened her arms around him to keep him against her. He promptly forgot the door in his sudden battle to merely breathe. Finally he pinched the soft flesh just below her armpit. She jerked upright, dragging him with her, just as the pounding came again. “Let me go,” he gasped.
Her arms loosened. “Sorry.” She slid out of bed, padded over to the door to their room and threw it open. It banged against the wall, leaving a dent. “Can I help you?”
The man outside goggled at her nude form. Caradoc could understand why, the valkyrie was a grand sight with her lithe, muscular body, golden hair and blue eyes. “Veronica, clothes. Otherwise I don’t think he’ll be able to talk in the presence of your august beauty.”
“Yes sir.” Suddenly she was covered in armor from head to toe. The man almost jumped away from the door. “Can I help you,” she asked again.
He tried to look past her and asked in a nervous voice, “Tamer Bishop?”
She moved to block the doorway. “Sir, it’s for you.”
He pulled on his pants and gently moved her to the side. It was like trying to move a mountain before she let him shift her sideways. “I’m Bishop.”
“Commander Van Der Haegen would like to see you at 8 am in his office.” The man sidled backwards. “I’ve delivered my message.” He walked at a fast pace down the hall to the stairs.
“Sir, did I do something wrong?”
“No, I think he doesn’t like pokegirls. A lot of people still remember the war.”
She snorted. “If this was the war, I’d have torn him in half.”
Caradoc shrugged. “It isn’t, not anymore. Go next door and let Naomi and Shima know what’s going on. Then we’ll go looking for breakfast.”
She shut the door and dismissed her armor. “Yes, sir. I’ll get dressed when I come back.” Her mouth curved up in a grin. “My armor pinches if I’m naked.”
He watched her saunter towards the connecting door between the two hotel rooms. “I’ll bet it does.”
A short while later they sat under a tree as they worked on some biscuits he’d bought. Naomi watched Winona curl up in Bishop’s lap. “Are we still planning to leave today?”
He slipped the infant a bit of biscuit, which she promptly crammed in her mouth. “Yes, we are. We’ve been away for too long as it is. Lori isn’t in my harem and I don’t want her running the farm. That’s our job.”
“What if the commander wants you to stay?”
“Then I hope he can be comfortable with disappointment.” He wiped crumbs from Winona’s face and kept her from grabbing the napkin. “Either I’m the administrator of Falmouth and I need to get back so I can prepare for my replacement or I’m not. At that point I’m a tradesman and I’m going home.”
Naomi nodded. “That’s all true. Now let’s hope he agrees with your assessment.”
Caradoc shrugged. “I have property to take care of. If he tries to keep me here, he can just send a messenger to Falmouth because we are not staying.”
You need to get to the TLCF building for your meeting.
He sighed and cradled Winona as he slid to his feet. “It’s time to see the commander. Naomi, you’re with me. Shima, Veronica, you ladies stay close, but be ready to wait outside if needed.”
The Kingston TLCF building was much larger than the one in Montego and was protected by a wall around it. There was one gate with a security checkpoint built into the wall next to opening. It would have been well protected from a mob of humans, but Caradoc’s harem could have penetrated the defenses with ease.
A woman in battledress and an assault rifle watched them approach the gate. She didn’t quite swing the weapon around to cover them as they stopped outside. Bishop nodded politely to her. “I’m Administrator Caradoc Bishop. I’ve got an appointment to see Commander Van Der Haegen.”
The woman keyed a throat mike and muttered in it without ever taking her hand off the grip of her weapon. She is contacting a command post and verifying your identity and that you have business here. I wonder how many people come here just to sight-see.
Finally she nodded and pressed a button. The gate swung open, revealing an inner gate and a second security post, this one manned by two tamers and four pokegirls.
As Caradoc and his harem headed inside, the outer gate swung closed behind them. They stopped at the inner security checkpoint, where the tamers looked them over. “Who are you here to see,” one of them asked in a bored voice.
“I’m Administrator Bishop and I’m here to see Commander Van Der Haegen.” He noticed earbuds on both of them and raised an eyebrow. “You probably heard the first sentry check my identity on her radio.”
One of the tamers nodded. “Yes, sir, we did. However, we have to verify it too.” He gestured at a pokegirl sitting in a chair. Her eyes were closed and she looked very relaxed. To Bishop she looked asleep. “She can tell if you’re telling the truth or not.”
That’s a witch. She must have some kind of divinatory or lie detection spell.
Caradoc waited a moment. “Well, did I?”
Apparently this disturbed the witch, who opened an eye to glare at him with. Reluctantly, she nodded when her tamer gave her a curious look. “He’s telling the truth.”
The tamer pressed a button on the wall and the gate rumbled open. “Go on.”
Naomi touched his arm and leaned over to whisper. “You might want to let them know to move that switch. We can see it from where we are. A psychic pokegirl can manipulate what she can see, so one could open that gate from here.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when I talk to the commander.” He led her inside.
Another TCLF tamer was waiting for them on the other side of the gate. “This way, administrator.” He led them to inside the building. Lights glowing among the ceiling tiles indicated another building with electricity. For an instant, Caradoc wondered if each building had an emergency generator or if there was a central power source and electricity was rationed according to need. Then he dismissed the thought and focused on the task at hand.
The tamer led them to another booth, where he gestured at a three-ring binder. “Please sign your name and your pokegirls in here and I’ll get your badge.” While Caradoc wrote his information down, the tamer went around the counter and pulled a visitor’s badge from a drawer. “Please clip this to your shirt.” He motioned to a group of uncomfortable looking plastic chairs. “You can bring your alpha, but the rest of your harem will have to wait here.”
Caradoc scratched the back of his neck as he regarded the tamer coolly. “If I’d known that they’d have to cool their heels here, I’d have left them outside where they could let Winona play.”
“What?”
“My daughter. If she plays in here, you’ll probably need new chairs.”
“Well, sir, this is standard practice. I guess you’ll know for next time.”
“I guess I will.” He scratched Winona under the chin as he spoke quietly to Shima. “If there’s any trouble, get Winona and Veronica out of here. Do not bring our daughter on a rescue mission.” He slipped his pokedex surreptitiously into Winona’s onbuhimo. “I’ll let you know if we need help.”
Crimson eyes looked into his for an instant before she looked down at her daughter. “Be careful and don’t let them take Naomi from your side.”
“I don’t have any intention of letting that happen.” He nodded to his escort as he moved back to Naomi. “Lead on.”
The tamer led them up three flights of stairs and stopped outside an office door. “The commander’s office, sir.”
“Thank you. Have a nice day.”
The man blinked. “Thank you, sir.” He disappeared down the hall.
Caradoc opened the door and waved Naomi in ahead of him. A man looked up from where he was banging away at a typewriter. “Administrator Bishop? I’m Sergeant Holmes. Please have a seat while I let the commander know you’re here.”
Bishop shook his head as the man slipped through a door at the far end of the room. “I know you’re not invisible and he’d have to be blind to miss such a beautiful woman.”
She gave him a brief smile. “Did you really think things would be different here if we’re property in Montego? Kingston sets the rules, you know.”
“I could hope otherwise. I have to worry about where the tamers of my children will come from. At this point they damned well won’t come from here.”
“The only way you can completely ensure their safety is to take them yourself and you’ve already said you won’t do that.” He grunted sourly at her words. “Maybe we’ll find some on Haven, although my daughters probably won’t be welcome there.”
A puzzled look crossed his face. “Why not?”
“If I have elfqueen pokekits, the ruling queen won’t want them around. She might accept their presence if we sent them there as infants, so they’re raised under her rule. Otherwise she’ll be concerned that they’ll be like Bluebell and seek to take her throne. If I have elves, it won’t be a problem.”
“Damn, this is complicated.” He cleared his expression as the sergeant reappeared.
The sergeant moved to hold the door open. “Commander Van Der Haegen appreciates punctuality in his appointments and in return he tries not to keep anyone waiting if they’re on time.” He flashed a quick grin. “Latecomers get to cool their heels before getting a lecture about timeliness.”
The commander’s voice sounded stern. “Timothy, stop holding them up or they will be late.”
The sergeant’s grin widened. “Yes sir. Please come inside.”
Commander Van Der Haegen’s office was large and decorated with antiques. He waved in the direction of an overstuffed chair as he leaned back in his. “Bishop, please sit.” He glanced at Naomi. “Timothy, bring another nice chair for the lady.”
Holmes nodded without expression. “Yes sir. I should have thought of that beforehand. I’ll be right back.”
“Timothy still harbors ill feelings from the war. He’s not old enough to realize that there’s always a war someplace and yesterday’s enemies can become tomorrow’s allies.” He watched with a mild look of amusement as Bishop motioned Naomi into the chair. “Pokegirls are the key to surviving what the future may bring. There aren’t enough humans to recreate our manufacturing base and infrastructure in any time frame not measured in generations.”
“They’re also the best way to fight other pokegirls.”
“So I’ve learned, Caradoc. Ah, here’s Timothy.”
Bishop met the sergeant at the door and took the chair he carried. “Thanks.”
Holmes nodded. “You’re welcome.” He looked over Bishop’s shoulder. “Sir, do you want tea?”
“It’s a bit early yet, Timothy, but thank you.” Van Der Haegen watched Holmes shut the door as he left before turning his gaze on Caradoc. “Put the chair down and sit in it, administrator. Don’t make me look rude by continuing to stand.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Bishop settled the chair next to Naomi’s and dropped into it. “You wanted to see me?”
“I did. I wanted to talk to you before you left and I suspect that will happen tomorrow at the latest.”
“Today, actually. I’ve been gone from my farm for far too long as it is.”
“Then it’s a good thing I had you rousted before dawn, isn’t it? I need to say thank you for a couple of things you’ve done. Obviously, I’m grateful for what you did in bringing the medicine from Haven. Without it, and with the presence of that pokegirl you chased, I think Kingston would have been doomed.” He cocked his head curiously. “Do you have any idea what kind of pokegirl she was?”
“I sent the information on what I saw to some experts and they suggest that she was a blight pokegirl. They’re designed to spread plague and death.” The final identification had come from Poppet, who recognized the breed from her time working for Sukebe. She’d also made a vague offer of a handsome price when she got her, and Caradoc was considering his options. He knew she wasn’t going to stay in his harem, but something about Poppet’s eagerness bothered him.
The fact that blight pokegirls were long extinct before the first pokedex was compiled helped to explain why his pokedex hadn’t recognized her. Poppet had promised to enter the information she remembered from the other extinct breeds. It might help and it might not, but it was definitely better than nothing.
He pulled his mind back as Van Der Haegen continued. “Well, in any case, a sweep of the building where you said she fell through the roof suggests that she was badly injured when that happened. There was so much blood that my experts think she crawled off somewhere and died. The fact that there haven’t been any more attacks from her helps to substantiate that theory.”
“I’m glad the plague appears to be over.”
“I also need to thank you for the advice you gave Jordan. He passed it along to me just in time.”
“What advice?”
“We were hit by the Black Rivers yesterday, here outside of Kingston. You suggested targeting the tamers instead of the pokegirls. Thanks to that advice they were driven off with the loss of one pokegirl on our side and three humans on theirs. That’s the highest body count and the best exchange ratio we’ve inflicted on them to date.”
“I’m glad my suggestions were useful.”
“They were more than that. Along with the pokedexes you’ve delivered for long range communication and the idea of DNA lockouts to keep them secure, that advice may be the edge we need to finally finish them off.” He sipped at a glass of water. “However, I didn’t call you here to pat you on the back for all you’ve done. That’s not my way.” He leaned forward intently. “I called you here to give you a warning, off the record as it were.”
Caradoc exchanged a look with Naomi. “What have I done now?”
“The warning isn’t about you, Bishop; it’s about your replacement. Have you met him?”
“I know his name is Bernard Hamilton, but that’s all I know about him.”
Van Der Haegen nodded slowly. “Mr. Hamilton is a protégé of Councilor Montgomery. I’m sure you can understand what that means.”
It meant that Hamilton would definitely arrive with some rather negative preconceptions of him and his family. In addition, he might arrive with some kind of instructions about Caradoc to repay any slights that the councilor might hold. “I do.”
“Understand that I will not speak ill of one of my administrators, and for better or for worse, Mr. Hamilton will be one of them when he arrives in Falmouth and takes the reins of power from you.” He looked down his nose at Bishop. “However, right now he is not one of my administrators. You still are, and therefore this warning is in order.”
“Commander Jordan fought to try to keep you as administrator a great deal more vigorously than I expected him to. After reflecting upon the accomplishments that you have achieved since coming to the Tropic League and in light of the fact that those were in spite of the sad welcome that you received on your arrival, I have come to the conclusion that he was impressed with your ability as well as with your competency. In the short time I have known you I have reached a similar conclusion.” His eyes met Bishop’s. “Those qualities are not evident in the upcoming administrator in the amounts you seem to have.”
“When that fact becomes evident, Mr. Hamilton is unlikely to be pleased and you will be in relatively close proximity to him. Your tradesman status is also going to confuse him, and he does not take confusion well.”
Caradoc frowned. “Am I to presume that like many people of that stripe, he will tend to focus that frustration outwardly?”
“You presume correctly, Caradoc. Unfortunately, results are all that the league is currently interested in and as long as Mr. Hamilton is successful in re-colonizing Falmouth, any unfortunate incidents along the way will be overlooked.” His gaze sharpened. “Try not to be one of those incidents. The league needs people like you and I despair to think that someone like him may be the end of someone like you. Please be cautious in your dealings with him, if only for the league’s sake.”
“I’ll do what I can, but my family and my farm come first for me.”
Van Der Haegen sighed. “Jordan warned me you’d be obstinate.”
“I’m not being obstinate, I’m being honest. I have three women who depend on me and I have a daughter. I’ll try to work with Hamilton, but they come before he does. They come before anyone else does.” Beside him Naomi colored with pleasure. “My farm is my livelihood and the way I take care of my women and child. Therefore it comes before he does, too. However, I will not go out of my way to antagonize him and I’ll even try to be less competent where he or his agents might see to report back to him.”
The commander’s lips quivered as if he were suppressing a smile. “Please do.”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit