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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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Sixteen
(08/28/06 1300 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Caradoc walked down the line and watched as four elves got into position around the crank. It was set up horizontally so they could walk around it as they turned, maximizing the work they would be soon putting out while minimizing the amount of effort as much as possible. The crank connected to a series of gears which connected to four 6,000 lb horizontally mounted drums scavenged from a pair of road rollers they’d found in Falmouth. After being carefully cleaned, the drums had been arranged in a framework so that the surface of the second drum was in contact with the surface of the first and third drums while the third drum surface was also in contact with the fourth drum. The first and third drums were on the bottom, while the second and fourth drums rested on and above them. In front of the first drum, a metal trough slanted downwards towards the drums. It had been placed so that the lip was almost in contact with the place where the leading roller met the surface of the second drum. A similar trough was behind the fourth drum, but it slanted down and away from the assembly, while between the first and third drums another metal trough extended in a straight line between the two rollers. A wooden framework had been built underneath the roller drums and covered with plastic sheeting which led to a tank. If the assembly worked properly, the wooden framework and plastic sheeting would be replaced with a permanent concrete or metal trough.
Naomi joined him at the rollers. “We’re ready.”
Caradoc looked everything over one last time. “Let’s see if it works.”
The elfqueen motioned to the elves around the crank. They grasped the bars and began walking around it. As it rotated, a rumbling noise started up as the drums began to roll. Two other elves loaded sugarcane stalks into the first trough where they slid down to the rollers and were sucked in. As the stalks were crushed, juice spurted along the rollers to fall onto the sheeting below where it accumulated before running into the storage tank. The crushed stalks emerged from the rollers to be forced along the connecting trough and fed into the third and fourth rollers where they were crushed again to remove any remaining juice. They exited from between the final pair of rollers to slide down the rear trough and onto a cart where another pair of elves waited to take them to an elevated latticework where they’d be laid out to dry in the sun. After drying, they’d be burned in the fires needed for the next step in production.
Once the tank was full, a manual pump would be used to move the liquid into the first of four large pots. A fire would be built below the pot and the process of boiling down the sugar begun. Once the sugar had been boiling for a while, a scum composed of impurities in the sugar would form on the surface. This would be scooped off and later used to fertilize the fields. After boiling down to about half the original level, the concentrated sugar would be moved the second pot, which was smaller than the first to reduce heating requirements and boiled again while the first was refilled so the process could begin anew. This would continue until the sugar reached the last and smallest pot.
Once the boiling was complete, what remained was very thick syrup loaded with crystals of sugar that was poured out onto a tray composed of a fine stainless steel mesh to finish drying. Molasses slowly drained through the latticework and was collected in buckets. Some of this would be bottled for sale, while the rest would be fermented for making rum and medicinal alcohol.
Caradoc and Naomi shared a contented smile. “It works,” he said. “Now that we’re set up to ferment the leavings, all we need to do now is get those oak barrels we got from Appleton ready to go.”
“Don’t forget we also need to finish the distillery. Right now all we can make is beer, but you still want to make both rum and medicinal alcohol.”
“I haven’t forgotten, but I’m still looking for the materials we need to set up the reflux column. I don’t want to use a distilling pot since I can’t control the output all that easily. In the meantime, we can still sell any beer we produce in Montego Bay.” He stretched slowly and rubbed his back. “What’s next on the inspection schedule for today?”
Naomi pulled a scrap of paper from her pocket. “The drying racks and the fish traps.”
They’d been trying to catch a feral water pokegirl that raided their fish traps on a regular basis and Bishop groaned at the thought she’d hit them again. “What’s wrong with the fish traps now?”
“Nothing, but we don’t have enough of them to make up the amount of supplies we’re supposed to provide for the colonists in Falmouth. We’re supposed to put together supplies for a hundred people for a month. We’ll make our required numbers on everything except the salted fish. They need some protein and we don’t have any other easy sources of it for them to eat.”
“I could take Shima and Veronica to the ocean and do some fishing.”
She nodded. “That might work. Honestly, I’m not sure I see any other way to get it done in time. We still need almost a ton of fish.”
“We’ll head there in the morning.”
(08/29/06 1015 Falmouth Bay, Tropic League)
Caradoc and Veronica watched from shore as Shima trotted out past the breakwater. She paused for a moment while she cast her spell of air breathing before walking beneath the waves. The valkyrie turned to him. “My turn.” She double checked the looped cable at her waist, spread her wings and launched herself into the air.
Winona made a happy noise and began trying to dig a hole in the beach with her hands as he turned and trudged back to her. She looked up and grinned at him before shoving a handful of sand into her mouth. He chuckled as her eyes went wide before she started coughing and spitting. “I’ll get some water and we’ll wash your mouth out.”
Below the waves, Shima looked around and then headed for the edge of the coral reef. She made sure that nothing was floating or swimming through her body before deactivating her phase ability. Bubbles drifted upwards as she emptied her lungs and filled them with water. Air walking was much easier than swimming, so she continued to walk towards the reef, her head moving slowly from side to side as she scanned for possible prey.
The fish around her were really too small to bother with and her mouth turned down in annoyance as she realized that Caradoc had been right again. She pulled the mesh bag and cord that he’d given her from her belt and summoned her dark blade spear in her right hand. A small mixed school of ocean surgeons and blue tang were feeding along the reef and she used her enhanced speed to stab several of them before the others fled. She dismissed the spear and began collecting her victims.
The dead fish went into the bag and she let the cord out until the bag drifted several yards from her. Then she moved to a relatively open area and began to wait, constantly scanning the area all around her.
Above her, as she circled, Veronica could easily see the nightmare and followed her to her new hunting location. To pass the time, she repeatedly slowed until she almost stalled and then began to alter the motion of her wings to try and change each stroke from a down and up motion into a horizontal figure eight even as she increased the stroke speed. When she started to grow tired, she’d stop and hunt out a thermal to begin circling. She’d marveled at the way hummingbirds flew and had been enthralled when Caradoc had recorded some feeding and then slowed the recordings down until she could see the individual wing beats. Normal wing strokes created lift on the down stroke only, while a hummingbird’s wings rotated through the figure eight to generate lift on both the up and down strokes. Veronica was determined to see if she could fly like that, since it had the possibility of vastly increasing her maneuverability during a fight. Even if she couldn’t master it, it was a new and fun way to work on increasing her flight endurance, something she knew she desperately needed.
It didn’t take long for the first cruciform shape to swing by overhead, and Shima watched with a wary eye without forgetting to remain aware of her surroundings. It was a tiger shark and, when it saw the nightmare, it swung wide around her while its brain tried to decide what she was. Soon it was joined by another, this time a lemon shark. It, too, had been drawn by the blood in the water, and it, too, avoided the nightmare as something it didn’t recognize.
Not that Shima recognized the different shark breeds. As far as she was concerned, a big striped shark had shown up first, followed by a smaller yellowish shark. When the first bull shark appeared, she thought she was looking at a fat lemon shark, since bull sharks are much stockier than any of the requiem sharks. When the female showed up, however, she knew it was something different. This one was a ten feet long, quarter ton of belligerence that swam over the net bag with the others before she began circling Shima. The nightmare grinned to herself and waited for the inevitable attack.
The bull female turned and rushed towards Shima, intending to begin what was known to divers as a bump and bite attack. This was where the shark hit the prey with its nose or body to knock it around before returning for the real attack. A human would have been knocked out of position and helpless for the follow-up bite.
Shima turned in place to face the oncoming shark as she tucked her tail underneath her torso to protect it in case one of the other sharks got an urge for a nibble and raised her hands into a ready position. She grabbed the shark’s nose with one hand and drove the fingers of her other hand into the shark’s gill slits. Before the shark could respond, ice spread over the shark’s head and down its torso as the nightmare activated her ice beam technique with both hands. Shima looked behind her to keep an eye on the other sharks she kept the technique going until the bull shark was completely encased in ice. Then she wrenched her hands from the ice and turned to watch the swimming sharks as the completely frozen bull shark began to float to the surface.
When the bull shark bobbed up in the surf, Veronica spotted it instantly. She folded her wings and dove as she unlimbered the cable. She spread her wings at the last second and skimmed just above the water towards the block of ice, lowering the loop of wire into the water. It slipped over the block and she let it go slowly enough that her passage tightened it around the ice. The valkyrie pulled up and began powerfully beating her wings until she hit the end of the cable and jerked the ice covered shark out of the water. She climbed and turned towards the shore and her waiting tamer while below her Shima prepared to catch two more sharks before heading for shore.
(08/29/06 1845 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“There have been no further new cases of plague and the city appears to be returning to normal, over.” The Bogs Walk radio operator was William Armstrong. He and Caradoc had met when Bishop lived there. William owned the slutton named Cerise and he’d been the one who’d questioned Naomi being armed. Still, at a distance he was perfectly acceptable, even if he sounded like he was talking underwater.
Bishop made a note. “No new plague and city is getting back to normal, over.”
‘That’s right. We’ve had no further contact with the Black Rivers, but a team has been dispatched to explore the area where they fled and try to localize their base, over.”
‘Team sent out to try and locate Black Rivers, over.”
“The last message is that the colonization convoy for Falmouth will depart Kingston in the morning. They’ll follow the road and I’ll let you know when they arrive here in Bogs Walk, over.”
Caradoc activated the mike. “Convoy for Falmouth will leave in the morning. Is the new administrator traveling with them, over?”
Armstrong laughed into his mike. “Affirmative. Hope you enjoy retirement, but I haven’t heard anything about administrators getting retirement pay, over.”
“Don’t worry, Will, you’ll still be talking to me. Apparently I get to keep the radio as a deposit on that pay, over.”
“Bishop, I’ll admit that I was hoping for someone with a sexier voice to take your place, but if it’s still you then it’s still you. This is Bogs Walk, over and out.”
Caradoc sat and listened to the static for a moment before turning the radio off. Naomi tapped on the door sill and came in. “You done?”
“Almost. I will be when Hamilton gets here. He’s leaving Kingston in the morning, so we should expect him in a week or less. I’ll have a better idea of his speed when he gets to Bogs Walk.”
The elfqueen stroked his hair slowly. “You sound disappointed.”
“Disappointed? No, what I am is concerned about the warning Van Der Haegen gave me. If he’s Montgomery’s stooge and he’s been sent to make my life hell, I’m not sure what my options are going to be in dealing with him.”
Her hand slid down to massage his neck gently. “Together, we will weather whatever he or anyone else throws at us.” She draped her arms around his neck and rested her chin on top of his head. “And in return, we will deal our foes the defeat they so desperately want.”
He looked up at her. “What makes you think they want defeat, desperate or otherwise?”
Naomi kissed his forehead and winked at him. “If they wanted victory, they would not engage us. Instead they would find someone else to persecute. Someone who is far more helpless than we are and therefore someone they could defeat.”
Bishop couldn’t help it, he started chuckling. “I suppose you’re right. Come whatever may, we five will face it together.”
“And we will prevail,” she prompted.
“And we shall prevail.”
(08/30/06 0915 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima glared at the wagon. “I hate you.” She shifted to her equine form and turned around. After backing into the traces, she folded her arms as Bishop began hitching her to the transport. She watched him with neutral eyes. “Right now I’m not too pleased about you, either. It’s your fault that I’m demoted to beast of burden.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be behind the wagon with Veronica, pushing. We need to practice driving this thing around before the wagon is filled with foodstuffs for the people in Falmouth.”
The nightmare decided to try reasoning with him. “Why can’t we just put it all into the pokepack and carry it that way? It would only take two or three trips and I could fly you there.”
“We might want to keep the pokepack away from them if we’d like to keep it, that’s why. Van Der Haegen didn’t realize what it did or he might have tried to commandeer it. Hamilton will try to do the same and then it won’t be available for us to use while he’s storing his porn in it.”
The nightmare laughed. “You think that’s what he’d put in it? He’s probably got at least one pokegirl and I’m sure she’d be willing to act out just about any sex scene he wants.”
“Ah, but good printed porn is hard to find and a pokepack would make sure it stayed dry and free from the ravages of time.”
Shima kept chuckling. “I’ve heard it called spooge, spunk and a lot of other things, but I’ve never heard it called time before.”
“That means you’ve learned something new today.” He tightened the last strap and stepped back with a flourish. “See how it fits.”
Shima went through a series of stretches. “I guess it’ll do. You try to fit me with a bit or blinders, however, and I’m out of here.”
“There’s no reason for that attitude or those items. Unlike a horse, you respond to complex verbal commands, so you don’t need them. That’s why we only need a driver in case we need to use the brake. Later I’ll build a brake system that you can control somehow and we’ll get rid of the driver’s dead weight, too.”
Naomi gave both of them a mock glare from where she sat on the driver’s bench. “Hey! I heard that!” Behind her, strange sounds could be heard. From them, Veronica was either trying not to laugh or was choking to death. In either case, Naomi ignored the sounds. “I am not dead weight.”
Bishop looked remarkably innocent. “Oh? Was I talking about you?” He patted Shima on the hip. “Do you think I was talking about her?”
The nightmare shook her head wildly, faced forward and nickered like a horse.
Naomi smiled. “Smart girl. At least you remember who sets the taming schedule.”
“Traitor,” Bishop muttered loudly as he headed around to the back of the wagon. He got ready to help Veronica with the pushing and looked up over the bed of the wagon. “Call it, Naomi.”
“I’ll count down from three. Three.” The wagon shifted slightly as Shima leaned into the traces and prepared to pull. “Two.” Caradoc checked his footing and braced against the back of the wagon. “One. Pull.” With the three of them working together, the wagon began rolling almost immediately.
Naomi watched as Shima turned the wagon onto the road leading away from the farm. “How is it?”
“It pulls across my equine chest, but it’s nothing too uncomfortable. I don’t see any problem with continuing.”
“Ok.” Naomi waved to the four elves at the end of the road and they melted into the woods. She turned in her seat to look back at Bishop and Veronica. “Caradoc, the sentries are out. The first place we’ll stop is about a mile ahead. Shima says she’s not having any problems.” Her eyes widened slightly when she realized that neither Bishop nor Veronica were pushing and were instead walking behind the wagon. He placed a finger over his lips and she nodded before turning to face front again.
The wagon was actually what would have been known as a lorrie, meaning it was designed to carry loads on paved or finished roads. Because of this, all four of its wheels were the same size and rode on springs that helped to float the bed. An off-road wagon typically would have the front wheels smaller than the rear for maneuvering over rough terrain and often would have no springs. The bed had been framed in with a single row of one inch thick planks to form six inch high sidewalls. This would allow it to carry loads up and down inclines without worrying about them rolling off the lorrie. Right now the bed carried some old sacks of concrete that they’d found, some buckets, shovels and a barrel of water.
The first stop was a place where the road had been gouged by something that left a wide chunk missing. Two of the patrolling elves had secured the area and waited for them. After maneuvering the wagon past it, Caradoc and two elves mixed concrete and patched the hole while the other two elves and an airborne Veronica patrolled the area. Naomi stood watch over the repair team while Shima stood in her traces. She was bored, but still kept an eye on the road ahead. Once the patch was in place, they loaded everything back into the wagon and rumbled down the road to the next section of road that needed repaired.
Finally they rolled into the outskirts of Falmouth and stopped. “Lunch time.” Naomi set the brake and climbed out of the wagon while Caradoc hopped into the wagon to count the remaining sacks of concrete. “Is that really so difficult?” She pointed. “One. That’s all we have.”
“Actually there’s another half a bag in that bucket there.” He smiled and shook his head. “Considering that’s all we have left, it looks like we’ll be making the sugar trough out of wood and patching any other holes with gravel unless we can find another cache of concrete. I don’t relish the idea of grinding up cinderblocks to see if that’ll work, either.”
She nodded. “I’m only concerned about our road between here and the farm. Any holes anywhere else aren’t our problem and the colonists can fix those themselves.”
“You’re right.” He dropped to the ground. “Will you get Shima some lunch while I change Winona’s diaper?”
“You know, I need to spend more time working with our daughter, so I’ll do diaper duty while you take care of Shima.”
“If you want to take care of her, don’t look for me to argue with you about it.” He dug out some fruit and a couple of hardboiled eggs to take to Shima. The nightmare was checking to see if the traces had rubbed her raw anywhere she could reach. “How’s the harness riding?”
“I don’t think it’ll ever be what I’d call comfortable, but with you and Veronica helping, it wasn’t too bad.” She looked down at him and smiled as she took the food from him. “Thanks. Would you check the rest of the lines? The one that runs over my left flank started to hurt a bit after a while.”
“I’m on it.” A quick examination showed that the line had a splinter stuck in the leather and this had worn a bloody patch in her skin. The tiny bit of wood had probably been there the whole time and finally worked around where it could scratch her. He carefully worked the splinter free. Right now leather was irreplaceable. “There was a splinter in the line, but I’ve gotten it out. It gave you a sore spot and I’m going to try a great grape on it.”
He dug one of the berries from a sack in the wagon and carefully bit a small hole in it. Then he placed the berry over the injury and squeezed gently, releasing just enough juice to heal the wound. It healed completely and Shima sighed in pleasure. “Oh, that’s much better.”
Caradoc tapped her on the rump and caught her tail when she flicked it in his direction. “Anywhere else?” There were a few other places that needed tended and he used the grape to heal them as she pointed them out. When they were done, Caradoc ate the berry as his meal for the day.
“What’s next,” the nightmare asked around a mouthful of banana.
Bishop had produced a horse brush and was brushing her down. She sighed and leaned into the strokes as he worked. “On our last visit we found a hardware store that didn’t look like it had been looted when the town was being evacuated, so we’re going to get a load of tools from it and add them to our collection of things for the colonists. It won’t be part of what we bill them for, but it’s a nice thing to do for them since if they’re like I was, they got collected and moved out without a chance to take their stuff with them. We’ll also do a quick check for blankets and stuff for them.”
She gave him an amused look. “Isn’t that going a bit above and beyond the call of duty for them, especially considering that the new administrator may be out for your skin?”
“It is, but it’s the neighborly thing to do. Besides, Hamilton is not the only person coming up here and if I can build a little goodwill in the community for us, maybe I can work around him if it becomes necessary. I’m not going to screw them over just because he’s a potential problem.”
She nodded and then looked off into the distance. Her voice dropped and became oddly neutral. “You know, this is still a pretty dangerous place and people have accidents all the time. It’s not really safe anywhere from ferals.” She glanced at him. “Not even in the new home an administrator chooses for himself. Or perhaps especially not in someplace like that. For us, I’d be willing to make sure he has one that he doesn’t survive.”
“That’s a nice sentiment, but I won’t ask you to commit murder. If I were, I’d have already sent you out after him, to kill him on the road.”
She looked surprised. “You already considered it?”
He nodded as he kept brushing. “I did. Naomi and I have discussed just about every possible option to keep him from causing trouble, but we finally decided it wasn’t right to act until we know he’s going to be like we were warned. After all, Van Der Haegen could be wrong about him.”
Shima snorted. “I don’t think that was Naomi’s suggestion. She’s like me, more direct than that.”
He stopped and looked up at her. “You’re right. Naomi is more bloodthirsty than I am. I won’t countenance arbitrary murder and I convinced her to agree with me, at least for now. I’d like you to do the same. We can’t go attacking people for what they might do. It’s not my way.”
“What happens if he is a threat?”
“Then we’ll do as the situation requires, just like we always do.”
“You stopped brushing.”
“We were having an important talk. It seemed like the right thing to do, so I could give your opinion the proper consideration.”
She nodded. “Well, we’re done, so you can go back to brushing now.”
“Do you agree with me to wait before acting and that we need to decide to act as a family this time, instead of going off on our own like Naomi did?”
“I could just lie to you and say yes.”
“You could, but then if you did go off on your own, you’d break the trust I have in you. Once that’s gone, it can never be replaced completely.”
She sighed and brushed her crimson hair back over her ears. “I agree to wait and see.”
“And?”
The nightmare gave him a long look before nodding. “If time allows, I’ll talk to you before doing something precipitous. You do understand that if he tries to take Winona, I will act after that talk.”
“If anyone tries to take Winona, you’ll have to beat me to them.” Bishop went back to brushing. “She’s our daughter and nobody is going to take any of our children from us. I’ll see dead any man who tries. She’s not going to a family for them to raise and she’s damned well not going to some crèche, either. ”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a place to send children to be raised by someone beside their parents. That ranch they keep mentioning is a crèche and no place for anyone’s children, much less ours.”
After lunch Veronica roved ahead of the wagon as they proceeded down the street. Metal screamed and glass crunched as she cleared the street in front of them by the simple expedient of shoving cars onto the shoulder of the road. Those she couldn’t push she rolled over until they were out of the way.
Once at the hardware supply, Shima had to learn how to back up with the wagon attached. After some practice, she managed to back the wagon into the sunken loading dock, leaving the back of the wagon level with the ground. Veronica pried the back door open and disappeared inside after summoning her armor and sword. There was a loud crash and she came backing out of the doorway. She’d summoned her shield and held it in a ready position. “Around front there’s another entrance! Don’t let them get away! Milktits!”
Naomi pointed at the four elves. “Go!” She looked at Caradoc and at his nod ran after them as they dashed around the building. Shima phased and stepped out of her harness. She handed Winona to her tamer and stepped in front of him as a pokegirl stepped out of the building and squared off against the valkyrie.
The newcomer was very muscular. She had a human face, but eight inch horns graced her forehead and a thin tail ending in a tuft trailed behind her.
“Mine,” Veronica bellowed.
That is a minotaura, the fighting evolution of the milktit breed. The minotaura wielded a sledgehammer in each hand and she clashed them together as she advanced on Veronica. The valkyrie’s sword licked out with impossible speed and the minotaura gaped as she was suddenly holding two sticks while the sledgehammer heads dropped to the ground. She hurled the sticks at Veronica and threw herself into a forward roll, hooking the valkyrie’s ankle as she came back to her feet. She spun in place and hurled Veronica directly at Shima. The instant she recovered from the throw, she charged right behind it.
Caradoc dropped to his knees as Shima phased to let the valkyrie hurtle through her body. Veronica slammed into the wagon, which shattered beneath the blow in a shower of bits of wood and a cloud of concrete dust. The nightmare’s armor flowed over her body as she summoned and leveled her dark spear at the oncoming minotaura, who ducked under the spear and slammed Shima with megaton punch. The nightmare was blasted across the alley and through the facade of the building there in spray of brick dust and wood.
Bishop slipped over the lip of the loading dock and crouched down amid the wreckage of the wagon, pressing himself against the dock to remain out of the minotaura’s sight as Veronica kicked her way free of the wagon. Her armored head glanced at him and with a scream she threw herself out of the dock at the minotaura.
The minotaura tried the rolling grab again and Veronica responded by smashing her in the face with an armored kick the knocked the cow pokegirl backwards to lie flat on the ground. The valkyrie summoned her sword, reversed her grip on it and brought it straight down. The minotaura rolled out of the way just in time and the blade sank a foot into the concrete with a grating noise. The minotaura’s frantic defensive kick snapped the blade even with the ground. Her eyes lit up and she rolled back to her feet.
Tell her to use a flying technique. Fighting types are weak to flying techniques.
Caradoc popped up. “Veronica! Wing attack!”
Brilliant white wings snapped into existence and Veronica slashed at the minotaura with them as she summoned her sword. The broken weapon vanished and a whole one appeared in her right fist even as the minotaura was knocked backwards and staggered into wall of the hardware supply store.
“Feather shuriken!” Veronica’s wings glowed as power gathered in them and she snapped them forward so hard that she bounced into the air. The chi bolts peppered the building and the minotaura with tiny explosions of energy as Shima dropped to the ground next to Bishop and fired a force bolt between Veronica’s legs that took the minotaura in the chest. Her cocoon of darkness expanded to cover Caradoc, Winona and, more importantly, Veronica with its healing power.
The minotaura pushed away from the wall and charged as her hands began to glow. Veronica’s sword pulsed red and she ran forward to meet her opponent. The minotaura swung and the valkyrie used her enhanced strength and speed to chop the hand off at the wrist. The minotaura’s face went white and she swung wildly with her other fist.
Veronica chopped it off too.
Her opponent moaned in pain and slid to her knees. She met Veronica’s gaze and lifted her chin to bare her throat. The valkyrie raised her sword as Caradoc’s thrown pokeball took the minotaura in the belly.
Veronica whirled to face him as the ball danced around behind her. “That was my kill!”
Bishop glared at her. “I decide if you kill or not. She thought she’d failed whoever she was protecting. She didn’t and she didn’t deserve to die.”
The valkyrie’s armor, weapons and wings vanished as she strode forward and dropped into the loading dock to go down on one knee in front of him. “You are right, my master. Forgive me.”
Caradoc handed Winona to Shima and pulled Veronica to her feet. “There’s nothing to forgive, Veronica. Just remember that we don’t kill people unless we have to.” He hugged her. “You did a great job protecting us.”
Suddenly she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back fiercely. “Thank you, si-Caradoc.” Her head came up, only to relax as Naomi and the elves came around the building.
Caradoc looked surprised when he realized that several of the elves were carrying something heavily bundled in vines. Each one was about four feet long. “Naomi?”
The elfqueen picked up the minotaura’s pokeball and handed it to him along with two others. “There were two adult milktit and four older kits. Your pokeballs wouldn’t catch them, so we had to tie them up.” She looked at the wreckage of the wagon and the damage to the buildings. “My.”
“Things got a bit exciting there for a minute.” Caradoc shrugged. “Nobody was seriously hurt.”
Naomi was watching one of the elves who had picked up a minotaura hand and was examining it. “I’m not sure the minotaura would agree with that statement.”
“She’ll be fine after she gets healed. Oh, by the way, could I have the PPHU you’re carrying?”
The elfqueen shrugged out of her pack and opened it up. “I recommend that you keep them all. The kits won’t produce milk until they become pokegirls, but the two adults will and the minotaura will want to stay with them. She’ll help protect the farm, too. In the meantime, the kits can help out around the farm.” She pulled out the PPHU. “I don’t recommend they join the harem, so you’ll only have to bed them the once to make them yours. After that, they’ll share with the elves.” Her eyes twinkled. “You might get tired of everyone lactating if the pokegirls drink the milktit milk, though. They’ll keep trying to get you to drink it as fresh as possible. Still, it’ll give you milk and cheese to sell.”
Milktit milk makes other pokegirls lactate for about a week. However, it’s been determined that pasteurization will destroy the enzymes that make pokegirls lactate without harming the milk. I’ll explain the process in detail later.
“Apparently there’s a way to process the milk to keep other pokegirls from lactating all the time.”
She gave him a slightly wistful look. “I wish I could know things like you do.”
“I’m working on making that possible for all four of you.”
Her face lit up. “That’s wonderful! When can I get it?”
“As soon as we go back to Haven, and I intend to go there just as soon as possible.” He looked at the wagon and sighed as he pulled his harem’s pokeballs from his belt. “I have no idea how to fix that thing. I suspect it’s beyond resuscitation anyway. Salvage the harness and let’s get out of here.” He looked at the sky. “It’s a nice day for a walk.” The PPHU clicked open and he looked up. “Who’s first?”
(08/30/06 1545 Falmouth, Tropic League)
The sun kept peeking in and out of the scudding clouds and the air was starting to chill slightly. In the distance a thunderhead growled at them as they followed the road out of town and towards the ranch and home. Winona was curled up in Bishop’s arms and drooling slightly as she napped on his shoulder. Her mother had claimed to want some time away from her daughter; nonetheless she was always nearby and watching them whenever he looked around.
Veronica was winging overhead, enjoying being healed and being free to fly wherever whim took her while she patrolled around her tamer.
Naomi was off in the woods with her elves, although he did notice a flash of emerald from her hair as she checked on him from time to time. Each time she realized he’d seen her; he got a pulse of warm feelings from whatever was growing between them. And he had definite proof that something was there. Not only did he get feelings from her, but on a couple of recent occasions he’d been watching her from a distance and she’d turned around as if expecting him to be there. It was nice, he supposed, but in a way, it was also kind of creepy since he didn’t think he could control it like he could his twee. He consoled himself with the thought that at least it was with Naomi and not some stranger.
You have a waiting com connection on your pokedex. It is a realtime connection and not mail. It’s Kerrik Wolf. Do you wish me to send it to your mail so he can leave you a message?
“Let him know that I’m trying to become available and hold the connection for just a moment.” Bishop looked around for Shima and made a motion towards her with Winona. A look of relief flitted across her face and she took the child from him and slipped her back into the onbuhimo. Then he pulled his pokedex from his belt and activated it. “This is Caradoc Bishop. I must admit that I’m surprised to hear from you, Wolf. I’m not on Haven.”
Kerrik appeared in the display window without becoming a hologram. “I’m sorry to disturb you. I know you’re outside Falmouth and I’ll be brief. I understand that you’ve acquired a blight pokegirl and that Poppet is interested in getting her from you. What is she offering?”
Caradoc grimaced. “She hasn’t made an offer yet. I get the impression that it’s expected that I hand the blight’s pokeball over.”
Kerrik nodded as if he’d expected the response. “I see. Could I tender an offer for her? I’d like to examine her to see how her disease system works and to see if she can be trained not to use it. I’d be willing to offer 150 crowns or twice that in merchandise for her.”
“Merchandise? What kind?”
“I have access to the same manufacturing facility on Bastion that Haven does and I can get whatever I want. Was there something specific you were looking for?”
“Can you get me some pokekit pokeballs and four twees? I suspect that King Shikarou might consider twees to be exclusive to the Wolf family. Do you feel the same way?”
Kerrik shook his head. “No, I don’t. Your harem is your family and if you want them to have twees, I’ll provide them at no cost. It has been a Wolf tradition ever since the twee were developed to help clans without access to them. I can provide you with pokekit pokeballs, as long as you understand I hope you’ll use them responsibly.”
“I intend to. I just picked up four pokekits that will be joining the farm and I’ve got a daughter who is working to hurt herself every time we put her down.”
Kerrik chuckled. “It does seem that way, doesn’t it. I’ll get you a dozen or so and a pokeball recharger so you can use them on other kits when they outgrow the balls.”
“What will the king say?”
“I don’t really care what Shikarou says. He’s setting up a kingdom and I’ve always been a little wary of them. I’m doing something more traditional where I live. You might think it a little slice of home far away from it.”
“You’ll be using Tirsuli law?”
“Tirsul is a nice place with some pretty reasonable laws. I like them, although certain of them will need modified just a bit because of that genetic pokegirl dependence on humans and the whole feral state. However, I intend to make here as much like Tirsul as I can.” He folded his hands in front of him. “However, this discussion doesn’t get me that blight. I refuse to charge you for the twees and if your kits need balls, those are free too. So, I still have an offer of 150 crowns on the table for her. I wouldn’t normally offer so much, but she’s the only one I’ve heard of and so I thought I’d treat her as unique.”
“I’m not planning to come to Haven until I deal with some responsibilities that I have to take care,” he began, only to be cut off by Kerrik.
“If your family needs twees, I’ll be glad to deliver them immediately.”
Bishop gave him a grateful smile “Then come get her.”
“According to the satellite view, you’re not at the ranch. Can I meet you there? I’d like to see how you’ve done.”
“That would be fine.”
“Then I’ll see you there. Good day to you Caradoc.” The display blanked.
Bishop put his pokedex away and looked at Shima. “Can you get Veronica’s attention?”
The nightmare grinned and pointed into the air. Her ice beam missed the valkyrie by a matter of feet and Veronica responded instantly, whipping around as she summoned her armor. She landed in front of Bishop. “Sir?”
“There isn’t an emergency. Please find Naomi and let her know we need to get home. We’ve got a visitor on the way.”
The valkyrie’s armor faded away. “Will you be taking Shima and going on ahead?”
“No, I just want to hurry the group along.”
“I’ll tell her. Consider the group hurried.” She spread her wings and vaulted into the air.
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit