Twenty One
(09/12/06 1012 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Caradoc had fallen into an easy rhythm where his conscious mind was free to wander while his body moved automatically to accomplish the task which lay before it. There was both an art and a science to his work and his hands shifted the angle of the axe head with each swing so as to maximize each stroke. Chips flew as he steadily moved down the log and chopped another section free.
Naomi’s plant magic could do a lot of things with a tree, but she couldn’t turn one into firewood. Therefore it was necessary to do it the old fashioned way, and Bishop had taken the job upon himself. Once he was done sectioning the tree, he’d move it to the house and split it before stacking it with the rest of the wood to finish curing. It was always easier to work with green wood. Dry or seasoned wood was much harder than green and would dull an axe head almost faster than he could sharpen it. Shima had noted that there was a pokegirl technique called energy blade that would have allowed a pokegirl to almost effortlessly turn trees into firewood. She followed this wonderful news with the observation that it was a shame nobody here knew it.
It didn’t bother Bishop. He liked working with his hands and the truth was he was less than helpful with the crops. Elves planted them, elves tended them and elves harvested them. They were willing to let him work alongside them, but there was always this silent air of humoring him by allowing his presence amongst them that had finally driven him away. He suspected that they weren’t aware they were as condescending to him as they were, and he knew they’d feel ashamed if he pointed it out, but it was still frustrating to someone like him who had been raised with the idea that everyone was supposed to pull their own weight.
Fortunately he’d also been raised to understand that when one was outclassed in a job, one should find another job that one enjoyed and excel there. Elves weren’t all that good with axes and none of them could repair electronics or do light engineering. As the years spiraled past that might change, especially once the inevitable children started getting what he considered a proper education, but by then he’d have probably gotten tired of cutting firewood.
He made a mental note to add cutting bars to the ever growing list of equipment he wanted to purchase from Haven.
“Sir?” It was Ann. Her tail lashed and her ears flicked uncertainly. “There is a wagon coming up the road from town and it’s accompanied by six tamers and their pokegirls. Naomi sent me to find you.”
Caradoc drove the axe deeply into the wood of the tree. “Thank you, Ann. Where is she?”
“She’s at the house, sir. I’m supposed to escort you there.” She rolled her eyes. “As if I could protect you if we’re attacked by combat pokegirls. Still, I’d try.”
He smiled and stroked her cheek. She leaned into it, rubbing herself against his palm. “I know you would. Now let’s get to the house.” He broke into a trot and she quickly followed.
Naomi gave him a worried look as he came up. “It’s Hamilton and some of the Falmouth contingent. They’re not moving very fast and are still about ten minutes out.”
“Is Cardenas with them?” When the elfqueen shook her head, he scowled. “We need to send out a patrol to make sure she’s not hiding out there somewhere with the rest of the Falmouth troops.”
That brought a smile to her lips. “Already sent one out.” She turned to Ann. “Your herd is inside the house. You and Bess will stay here with Cindy and the kits. I want you to convert your milk into healing draughts and start filling every container we’ve got here. I hope we won’t be fighting, but if we do you’ll be our medical force. I don’t want Cindy in any combat; instead I want her to be an ambulance for injured personnel.”
Ann nodded, her nervousness vanishing in the face of calm orders. “We’ll get right on it.” A tight smile appeared. “If nothing else, you can sell the milk later.” She headed inside.
Bishop chuckled. “I forgot you were in the militias.”
She smiled warmly. “I forgot too, until Hamilton showed up.” Her eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t an officer then, but if Hamilton wants a fight, I’ll remind him that we kicked ass in the Revenge War.”
“We will not start this.”
She nodded. “I knew you’d say that, and you’re right. We won’t. If he does, however, I promise that Hamilton will die before the fight is done, no matter how far he hangs back.”
“Well, now, I guess I can’t have you breaking a promise.” He looked around pointedly. “Where is Shima?”
“I’ve got her and Veronica under cover. If Hamilton starts anything, Shima will be infinitely more useful if she’s not at melee range with the fighting pokegirls and Veronica is also better as a ranged fighter.” She gave him a curious glance. “Do you wish to countermand my instructions?”
“I wish I knew we had no reason to make all of these preparations, but I’m not going to lie to myself about it. We do. You made good decisions and I’m not going to change them.”
She slipped her hand into his. “Thank you.”
“I take it you and I are going to be the ones who get to meet our visitors? I hope you realize that means both the commanders will be at the potential ground zero. If something happens, who’s going to give the orders?” When Naomi went white he smiled. “I take it you didn’t.”
“It never occurred to me. Oh, Caradoc, I’m so sorry for not realizing it.” A calculating look appeared in her eyes. “I can’t do anything about today, but from now on you’ll have Veronica with you. I’ll be with the troops, like a good pokegirl officer.”
He patted her on the shoulder and raised his voice. “Cindy!”
The minotaura appeared at the door. “Sir?”
Once again Bishop marveled that the Cindy had the sweetest voice on the farm. He pulled his pokedex from his belt. “Get this to Veronica or Lori and tell them that the command to attack will come from me. Then hurry back, because I’m depending on you to protect our medics if fighting starts. They’ll be a prime target for the opposition.”
Cindy plucked the device from his fingers almost daintily. “I’ll run as fast as I can, sir.” Suiting action to words, she bolted for the woods. Inside the house, Gina peered out a window and growled her frustration.
I’ll be ready to send the order if anything happens. With my speed, the order will be on the way even as our enemies are beginning their attack. Hopefully that will help to keep us alive. If they mean no threat, I will also send instructions to stand down. If they are not here to fight, it might be best to not let them see a warlike posture on our part.
“Do you think she’ll make it to adult without evolving to minotaura?”
Bishop shrugged. “Can they evolve as kits?”
“You know, I’m not sure.” Naomi looked thoughtful. “Pokegirls as children is completely new to me.”
Information from Haven suggests that almost all pokekits do not evolve before becoming pokegirls. However there is data showing that although rare, it does sometimes happen. The reasons for it are not yet understood, so I cannot estimate the chances of Gina evolving before becoming an adult. However, getting an everstone will prevent her becoming a minotaura until she fully understands the possible ramifications.
Bishop frowned. “We may have to get her an everstone. It’ll keep her from evolving until she can decide what she wants for herself.”
“I will be happy when my twee begins working for me.”
The twees you gave them should begin preliminary communication within the next seven days. I, too, will be happy when I have others to talk with.
Caradoc gave a mental shrug. I think I’ll keep the timetable to myself so they don’t start worrying if one of them has a late maturing twee.
That would be wise.
“I will, too, Naomi.” He took her hand. “Let’s intercept them short of the house. Oh, if they don’t mean to fight I’m going to let our people know to stand down and pretend we never expected one. That way they won’t see our plans should they come prepared for war sometime in the future.”
“That is an excellent idea, Caradoc.” She sighed. “I mean, sir.”
He chuckled and squeezed her fingers. “I know. I don’t like it either, but it’s part of the game here.”
“Isn’t another one of the rules that you’re not supposed to be holding my hand, sir?” She tugged herself free. “Feel free to go back to that the minute they’re gone.”
“I will.”
(09/12/06 1045 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“Well, if they’re trying to hide their competence to put us off their guard, they’re doing a bang up job of it.”
Naomi swallowed her laugh at Bishop’s sarcastic tone. She did have to admit that the oncoming group did look thoroughly unprofessional, but since they were reaching the point where some of the pokegirls might be able to hear them; this was not the time to agree with him.
A minute later, Leah pulled to a halt smartly so that the cart would be right in front of Caradoc. Hamilton and his ever-present pia were in the cab. The administrator nodded to him. “Mr. Bishop.” His tone was as cool as his eyes.
“Administrator, what brings you to my humble farm?” Caradoc glanced over the tamers and their pokegirls. The only ones he recognized were Brett Warner and his ponytaur, Corrine. They looked tired.
Nobody looked alert or anxious. He sent a quiet thought to his twee. Tell the teams to stand down. This isn’t an attack or an ambush. He gave Naomi a quick look that she returned with a slight shake of her head.
I agree. I’m on it.
“Two things, Mr. Bishop. First, from now on Brett here will be coming out every afternoon around lunch to get the daily dispatches.”
“Very well. So he’ll be picking up the previous evening’s messages along with the messages from that morning.”
Hamilton had been apparently about to say something else and Bishop’s words made him blink in surprise. “What’s that?”
“There are two sets of message traffic every day, sir, one in the morning and one in the evening. Most of it is from Montego to Kingston and back. Up to this point, none of it has been for Falmouth, so right now, sir, picking up the dispatches daily shouldn’t be a problem involving priority messages.” He pursed his lips. “And what is the second thing, sir?”
Hamilton sighed and looked off towards the house. He blinked. “You have children here?”
Bishop glanced over his shoulder. The milktits had apparently received word that there was no threat and were headed for the fields and their weeding. It was also a significant portion of their daily food intake. “The pokekits? Yes, they’ve been here for a while now.”
“I see.” He watched the milktits as they walked into the sugar can and only focused again when Warner cleared his throat noisily. “We were hit by a pack of feral pokegirls last night. Some kind of dog type, I believe they were. They managed to penetrate our security and hit the supplies you’d given us. They ate most of the cheese and other food. We need more.”
Bishop exchanged an incredulous glance with Naomi. “I’ve already given you all I can spare.”
Hamilton’s eyebrows shot up. “Surely you have some food you can give to us.” He waved a hand around to encompass the entire farm. “You’ve got crops everywhere.”
“None of which are ready for harvest yet.” Bishop replied. “I have some small reserves that I was planning to take to Montego Bay to sell, but it’s not much.”
“We’ll take whatever you can give us.”
He nodded to Naomi. “Very well. I’ll have what we’ve got put together for you to take and I’ll draw up a bill of sale for you.”
Hamilton’s eyebrows shot up again. “Bill of sale? You expect us to pay for emergency food?”
“Administrator, I’ve already given you all the charity I can spare. I have a farm to run and taxes to pay to the league. It won’t be too expensive, and you can have people loot buildings for the gold and jewelry to pay my bill without too much trouble.”
Hamilton’s cheeks mottled red. “I will do no such thing. I suppose I will be willing to pay you for your crops, but the valuables of Falmouth belong to Falmouth. You’ll be paid in league credits and you’ll take them or I’ll know the reason why.” His voice was heavy with threat.
Bishop considered his options and knew he’d lost this argument. “And when will I receive payment, sir?”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Bishop, the league will pay you in due time.” Hamilton smiled sincerely. “I assure you that your money will be provided promptly.”
(09/12/06 1630 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“I thought you didn’t want anything to do with the standard league credit?” Naomi’s emerald eyes flashed as she glared at an inoffensive coffee plant. “It’s worthless.”
“It was bound to happen eventually. I’ll still take as much real money as I can, but when they pay me in SLC, I’ll just turn around and plow it into stuff that has actual value.” Bishop stepped up behind her and began rubbing her shoulders. “From what I’ve seen, their monetary system isn’t backed by anything except wishes and good intentions.”
Naomi sighed and leaned back against his hands. “It’s just after listening to you going on about imaginary money; it’s easy for me to know that you’re not happy to have this happen to us. I also know it’s especially annoying to have it forced on us by Hamilton.” Her voice trailed off when he slipped his hands down her back and around to cup the undersides of her breasts. She gave him an arch look over her shoulder as he pulled her gently against him. “What are you doing?”
“Hamilton and the monetary system aren’t all that interesting, so I’m changing the subject. Do you mind?”
She chuckled throatily and pressed her ass against his growing erection. “It just so happens that I’m rather fond of this particular topic.”
“I was hoping you might be.” He nipped her neck and she sighed happily as she tilted her head to give him better access. Naomi took his hands in hers and pulled them up so that her nipples poked into his palms through her dress. His mouth moved down her throat, leaving a trail of fire that began to spread through her body.
He blew gently on her ear and she shivered. “Caradoc,” she murmured. When he slowly ran his tongue up the back edge she moaned and went limp against him. “That’s not fair,” she whispered. “I have to remove your clothes to find someplace on you as sensitive as my ears.”
“Hush,” he muttered as he licked her ear again. His elfqueen gasped and her hands clenched on his. She twisted in his arms and turned to face him as she lifted her lips to his. They kissed and he ran his tongue lightly over her lips. They parted and the kiss deepened as he raked his nails lightly down her back. She made a happy noise into his mouth as she arched beneath his touch.
He felt her hands slide down his chest as she began unbuttoning his shirt. She peeled it open and, without breaking the kiss, he let her go so she could slide it off of his arms to drop to the ground. She pulled back enough to whisper against his lips. “How deeply are we going to get into this discussion?”
He slipped her gown off of her shoulders. “I think it’s a subject that deserves to be completely explored.”
She laughed softly and slipped the dress free to pool around her ankles before stepping back into his arms. “I agree,” she murmured before their lips touched once more. Her hands unfastened his pants and began to tug them over his hips when she stopped. She giggled. “Boots. I forgot about your boots.”
Bishop kicked them off. “Taken care of.”
Naomi dropped to her knees, taking his pants with her. Her eyes were bright as she leaned forward and her hot breath washed over him. Caradoc moaned softly when she licked him gently before taking him in her mouth. His eyes closed at the sensations and then snapped open when she bit him gently before pulling back. She smiled up at him. “You watch me or I stop.”
He chuckled. “I assure you, you have my complete attention.”
She winked. “Good.” The elfqueen pulled her emerald hair back and sucked his entire length into her mouth with one smooth motion. Caradoc’s knees buckled as pleasure shot through him, pulling his cock from her mouth as he collapsed. Naomi laughed softly and finished pushing him over onto his back before sliding up his body and rubbing herself against him.
She yelped in surprise when he grabbed her and rolled to put her beneath him, forcing a knee between her legs to rub against her. He kissed her hungrily and she responded by wrapping her arms around his neck. He nibbled across the line of her jaw and started down her throat. He heard her breath catch when he paused and looked up to see her eyes bright with anticipation as he pressed his teeth against her soft skin. Naomi hissed when he bit down gently and her fingers twined in his hair to pull his head down while she ground herself against his leg. “Harder!” Caradoc increased the pressure of his bite and she writhed beneath him before wrapping her legs around him as her body jumped beneath him. Naomi’s fingers twisted free clumps of grass and she whined as she orgasmed from the bite.
He finally eased up when he tasted blood and began licking the wound. He cleaned it completely before kissing his way down to a breast. He ran the flat of his tongue over her nipple and she whimpered softly. Lifting his head, he raised an eyebrow. “Again?”
Her hair was an emerald cloud around her face that quivered as she shook her head. “I’ve got your mark,” she said happily, “and it’s perfect until it heals.” He nodded and sucked her nipple into his mouth as he rolled her other nipple in his fingers, making her gasp and close her eyes as she savored the sensations coursing through her body.
Caradoc kissed his way down her body, switching to long strokes with his tongue over her stomach. He dipped his tongue into her navel and she jerked before he nuzzled between her legs. When he closed his mouth over her clitoris, she raised her hips to drive her groin against him. Bishop slowly slid two fingers inside her and began thrusting it in time to his tongue. She went rigid beneath him, fighting not to wrap her legs around his head as he lapped.
Naomi pulled on his hair and he followed the tug up her body to kiss her deeply as he rubbed his head against her. She curled her legs over his calves and pulled while lifting her hips in search of him and relief. He teased her by rubbing against her until she growled and rolled to put herself on top.
Her eyes smoldered with need as she grabbed him and rose up before dropping abruptly, her back arching as she drove herself down until their bodies met with him buried inside her. She gripped his hands in hers and used them for leverage as she began to ride him at a furious pace. Sweat began to bead her body as she lifted up and dropped and she bit her lip until it bled to keep from screaming as she came.
Caradoc raised his head and sucked on her nipples, alternating from one to the other as she rode him. His hips rose to meet hers as she dropped and the slap of their bodies echoed around them.
Suddenly she froze and then her body began jerking on top of him as another orgasm swept through her. Bishop grabbed her hips and began slamming himself into her over and over as he felt himself build. Naomi clawed at his chest as she felt him swell inside her and she finally did scream when he spilled his seed into her belly.
She collapsed forward, banging her forehead into his nose hard enough to make him see stars, her body heaving as she gulped air greedily while her heart began to slow. Finally she lifted her head and gave him a satisfied smile before looking at his chest. The deep scratches burned from the sweat that had dripped into them and they did so again when she began cleaning them with her tongue. When she was done, she kissed him before carefully laying her head down on his chest and making herself comfortable. He wrapped his arms around her as her breathing evened out and slowed as she drifted off to sleep.
(09/13/06 1200 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
“Sir?” Caradoc looked up and around. It was Wren, one of the pregnant elves. She smiled at him from just outside the doorway to the radio room.
Bishop smiled back. “Can I help you with something, Wren?”
“Tamer Warner is coming, sir, and he’s not alone. The administrator and his pokegirls are on their way, too. My queen wanted you to know. She’s at the gate and requests your presence.”
It turned out that the radio did have a ground in it somewhere and Bishop had been trying to isolate the fault so he could decide if it could be repaired with what he had available or if it had to be lived with. With his twee’s help, he’d created a software application that turned his pokedex into a multi-meter so he could hunt the ground down. He pulled the leads from the unit and reconfigured it back to normal operations. “I’m on my way.” He winked at her. “In your current condition, I think I can get to Naomi before you could to report that I’m coming, so don’t bother trying.”
The elf laughed. “Sorry, sir, but even with this,” she poked herself in the belly, “I would get there first. However, you’d probably be right behind me, so I might not be able to report before you arrived. Thanks for not making me run back.”
Bishop jerked the leads from the battery and carefully dropped them to the side. “I just don’t want you talking about how mean I am for the next couple of days. Your babies are developed enough that they’ll hear you and then they might be born prejudiced against me.” She laughed again as he locked the door before racing for the front of the property.
The gate was the term for where the farm road met the road into Falmouth. The property hadn’t been fenced when they moved into it and while the area along the road was perfectly flat and it would be easy to go around it, the previous owner had installed a wrought iron gate across the road up to the farmhouse. It had fallen or been torn down before they moved in, but a couple of the elves had used their free time to put it back up, scrub all the rust off of it and had even found paint and painted it a bright blue. Personally, he thought it was kind of silly, but he was not going to criticize anyone on the farm taking pride in the home they were carving out of the wilderness.
Naomi was passing the time examining some of the sugarcane when he came running up. As soon as she saw him, she headed his way. “It’s Hamilton and Warner and their pokegirls. Veronica is on her way, but nobody has reported anything out of the ordinary and I decided not to call an alert.”
“That works for me.” He glanced at her throat. “How’s the neck.”
Naomi gave him a coquettish look. “Fine, why, do you want to renew it?”
“Every day, woman.”
Her smile dazzled his eyes before vanishing suddenly at the sound of wheels. The cheetaura halted the cart while Brent pulled up his ponytaur a short distance away. The tamer inclined his head. “Mr. Bishop.”
“Mr. Warner.” Caradoc turned to Hamilton as Veronica trotted down from the house and stopped behind him. “Administrator, what brings you out here?”
Hamilton’s pia dropped to the ground and put a small stool next to the cart. Hamilton clambered down to the ground. “I want a tour of your farm, Tradesman Bishop. I also want to purchase some more supplies for the town. What do you have available?”
Bishop shook his head slightly. “Right now, nothing, but in a few days we should have some more crops ready for harvest. As it is, you’re lucky that Naomi can encourage plants to mature faster or you’d have to wait for another month.”
“Really?” Hamilton eyed him speculatively. “How much for her?”
Caradoc’s eyes glittered angrily. “Administrator, she’s not for sale and don’t ever ask me that question again. Naomi is mine. All of the pokegirls here are mine. Not a single one of them is for sale, trade, loan or lease.”
“You mean they’re not for sale to me.” Hamilton looked at him with an amused smile.
“I’ll tell you and anyone else the same thing that I told to Councilor Montgomery. No. League law is on my side. Only Commander Jordan can try to confiscate any of my pokegirls and then only if I’m doing something wrong. When I catch some more ferals, I’ll be willing to sell them to you. Commander Jordan said I could see if you wanted any of them before I sold them to him.”
Hamilton’s amusement grew. “You seem to know league law pretty well, Mr. Bishop. I can arrest you and wait for them to go feral.”
“You can arrest me, but I’d hope you had a reason for it. I haven’t broken Tropic League law.”
“No, you haven’t, at least not yet.” He chuckled. “Brett, get the daily dispatches and wait for me at the wagon. Leah, come with us. I’ll take that tour now, Caradoc.” He mispronounced the name with a flash of teeth that was not quite a grin.
Bishop decided the best thing was to ignore it. “Veronica, go with Mr. Warner and make sure he gets all of the dispatches at the radio room.”
The valkyrie came to attention and saluted crisply. “Yessir.” She turned to Brett and Corrine. “This way, Master Warner.”
She led him off as Bishop cocked his head curiously. “Administrator, where would you like to begin?”
“Here is fine. I want to see your entire farm, and I want to see all of your pokegirls.”
“Sir,” Naomi looked uncomfortable as she glanced at Hamilton. “Don’t forget the patrols.”
“I haven’t, Naomi. She’s trying to diplomatically remind me that you can’t meet them all since we’ve got some patrols outside farm’s boundaries. They act as a tripwire and let me know if there are ferals that need captured. I can and will let you see all the ones on the farm, if you’d like.”
“I see. I guess that will have to do.” Hamilton looked around the farm. “You really don’t like me, do you?”
“I haven’t had the opportunity to get to know you, so I don’t have an opinion about you either way. You,” he broke off and shrugged.
“Go ahead, Bishop. I’m curious to hear what you have to say.”
Caradoc knew better than to believe that statement. “I was going to say you haven’t really given me an opportunity to get to know you. You give the impression of not liking me at all and then there was the whole business of banning me from Falmouth.”
Hamilton nodded. “I see. In retrospect, perhaps forbidding you from town was an error. In fact, you may consider it to be a no longer valid order. I’ll let Cardenas know about the policy change when I return to town.”
Naomi glanced at Leah just in time to see the cheetaura jaw drop at her owner’s words. She pulled her mouth closed with an obvious effort as Bishop nodded. “Thank you. Now, let’s start with the outer ring of sugarcane.”
(09/14/06 0830 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Leah eased forward, ears up and alert as she surveyed the area. She remained motionless for almost a minute before making a slight gesture for her tamer to move up and join her. Once Bernard did so, she looked around again before leaning over to whisper softly to him. “Sir, the sugarcane is just through there.” Although she wanted to, the cheetaura didn’t bother to ask if Hamilton was sure he wanted to do this since she knew he’d already made up his mind. After all, she’d seen it before. When his obsession kicked in like this there was no stopping him. Once he’d claimed his victim, he’d be happy. It wasn’t a big deal to her, it’s just that she didn’t like the risk involved for either of them.
The tour of the farm had been a godsend and she’d listened closely to Bishop’s lecture as they’d wandered around, which was how she’d led her master to this point. It wasn’t really difficult since the patrols were oriented towards finding feral pokegirls and not a small group actively avoiding contact with the patrolling elves.
Leah checked the wind. “We’re downwind from the farm right now, sir. I don’t see her anywhere, but with a bit of luck she’ll be along soon. If that doesn’t pan out, I’ll go searching for her.” Unconsciously, her fingers traced over the daggers she kept in the harness she wore on missions like this one.
Hamilton moved like the competent woodsman he’d been before being promoted into an administrative spot under Councilor’s Montgomery’s tutelage. When he spoke, he kept his voice so low that even Leah had to strain to hear it. “That big titted slut of his mentioned that the ones I want spend a lot of time in the sugarcane and was bitching about the fact that they weren’t caring for other parts of it as well as this section to Bishop. They should be around here somewhere.”
They waited in silence for almost half an hour. Leah’s ears rotated to pinpoint the location when she heard light footfalls. She tapped Bernard on the back of the hand and pointed using her hand at the shadow that moved amongst the sugarcane. Hamilton raised up slightly and peered at her. He grinned and licked his lips as the milktit pulled up some weeds and shoved them into her mouth. He nodded and made a motion with his hand that Leah interpreted as an order to check that the target was alone. She nodded and disappeared into the thick cane, her natural camouflage giving her excellent cover.
She was back five minutes later and leaned over to breathe the words into her tamer’s ear. “The herd is spread out over a large part of the ring. The closest one is over a hundred yards away.” She chuckled softly. “Silly herbivores.”
Hamilton fondled his groin as he smiled darkly. “Catch her and bring her to me. Once she’s mine, Bishop won’t be able to do a thing except bleat like the sheep he is.”
Leah nodded and slithered forward, her hunting drive kicking in and focusing her vision down to what was now her prey. She shifted to her centaur form when she was within a dozen feet and instantly dashed to her target, wrapping a hand expertly over the milktit’s mouth while she simultaneously rabbit punched her in the back of the neck. The milktit grunted and went limp as Leah backpedaled to drag her victim back to what would soon be her new master. Once bonded, she’d quickly become tractable.
By the time she’d returned, Hamilton had opened his pants and was stroking himself as he fantasized about the pleasures to come. He watched avidly as Leah kicked the milktit’s feet out from under her and slammed her to the ground, quickly rolling her over onto her back. The milktit moaned softly before the cheetaura stuffed a rag into her mouth. She leaned forward over the prone milktit, pressing her stomach against the milktit’s head while holding her arms by the wrists and spreading them. She looked up at her master and nodded.
Hamilton pried the milktit’s legs apart and crawled between them, aiming his cock at her exposed pussy. He rubbed it with his head once and then, with a grunt of triumph, drove it in to the hilt. The milktit squealed beneath him and jerked her body as she tried to get away, but Leah continued holding her arms and head while Hamilton held her hips as he thrust into her. He wanted to bond her this time so he could enjoy her later, so he finished quickly, groaning in joy at the present as well as the future as he filled her with his sperm. When he was done, he laid on top of her for a few moments, savoring the feelings as he softened inside her before getting up and tucking himself back into his camouflage outfit. “She’s mine now.”
Leah grinned. “Yes, master.” She shifted back to look into the milktit’s eyes to make sure the bonding had taken. If not, they’d have to spirit her away so Hamilton could tame her over and over until the bonding took.
When she leaned over, the milktit jerked her head up, driving one of her small horns into Leah’s breast. The cheetaura yelped in pain and clutched at her breast while the milktit scrambled to her feet and ran, ripping at the gag with her fingers as she did. Hamilton leapt at her, but one of the milktit’s flailing arms caught him squarely in the nose. Blood spurted around his fingers and he glared at the fleeing milktit. “Leah, kill the bitch if you can’t catch her!” Leah grabbed at her with the hand that wasn’t cradling her breast and almost caught her, just managing to rip off the scrap of red ribbon that had been around the milktit’s throat.
Sky had been given some time off and the avariel was soaring from thermal to thermal, enjoying the morning sun on her wings as she floated through the air. When she heard the bellows of pain and fear, she folded her wings and spun to see Gina racing for the house with something in hot pursuit. It was closing so quickly that there was no chance the milktit kit would escape. For the first time in her short life, Sky didn’t think about herself as she screamed a wordless cry of alarm, folded her wings and dove to the attack.
Bishop ripped off the headphones when he heard Sky’s scream and raced outside to watch as the avariel smashed into a strange pokegirl. They tumbled together briefly before the stranger was back on her feet and accelerated in a blur after the pokegirl that was running straight at him. Behind her, Sky lay unmoving. The impact with the oncoming cheetaura had shattered most of her bones and fragments of her ribs had punctured her lungs and heart.
That is a cheetaura and she’s chasing Gina. I think it is Leah.
Bishop grabbed the axe that he’d propped against the wall for working on the firewood after the morning radio traffic was complete. He charged towards the oncoming pokekit and her pursuer.
Leah caught her first. The cheetaura swarmed over the milktit and drove one of her daggers into the back of the child’s skull even as a feather shuriken from Veronica barely missed her. She dropped the dying kit and raced west, cutting an arc through the farmland and away from Hamilton in a move calculated to draw the farm’s defenders after her and away from her master. The elves, Naomi, Veronica and Shima lit out in hot pursuit while the milktit headed for the closest hide to take cover.
Caradoc ignored the chase as he dropped to his knees and quickly checked Gina over. He froze when he saw the blood and sperm running down her thighs and leaned over the body, sniffing the air. His face set and he picked up the axe before he began following the kit’s trail back to the source. His twee outlined her tracks in blue for his vision as it sorted them out from the regular farm traffic. He moved as quickly as he could without losing the trail, but even with his twee’s aid, the going was slow.
Hamilton had already soundlessly made his way into the woods and outside the farmlands proper, and was moving from cover to cover in the general direction of town. He froze when he heard leaves crushed under a footstep and eased around to watch as Bishop slowly made his way in his direction. Hamilton moved into deeper cover as the farmer approached. His eyes went wide when Bishop looked right at him.
Hamilton shot to his feet, his eyes on the axe. “I order you to put that weapon down, Bishop. Now!”
“Your pokegirl murdered Gina.” Bishop turned and drove the axe into a tree. When Hamilton motioned, he stepped away from it.
Hamilton looked surprised. “She did? Don’t worry, I’ll make it right.” He eased toward the tree and the axe. “Which one of them was Gina?” He put his hand on the axe and worked it free from the tree. He relaxed slightly now that Bishop was unarmed.
His eyes went wide when Caradoc’s hands covered his. “She’s the one you raped.” The axe handle was driven into his gut hard enough to rupture his diaphragm, but before the pain could fully register, Bishop ripped the axe from his fingers and buried the blade in the administrator’s chest.
Caradoc stood there for several minutes before retrieving the axe. He picked up the corpse and threw it over his shoulder for the walk back to the farm, ignoring the blood that ran down his clothing.
(09/14/06 1045 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima stepped out of the woods and stopped in front of the pile of firewood. Naomi slid off of her back and looked around, her face tight with worry. She sighed in relief when she saw him sitting next to Gina’s body and almost ran over to him as the nightmare changed back to her human form. “I’m so sorry Caradoc, but we couldn’t catch the feral. She was just too fast and we lost her.” She blinked when she took in his blood soaked clothing. “What happened?”
He looked up at her, his eyes red with tears. “That wasn’t a feral, Naomi. That was Leah.” Gina and Sky had been wrapped in some sheets from the house. “Hamilton raped Gina and then had Leah kill her.” He motioned at the larger bundle. “Sky attacked Leah before she could get to Gina and died trying to save her.”
Naomi paled. “Why did Hamilton do that?”
“I’ve been sitting here trying to answer that question myself.” He sighed. “I don’t know.”
I have a theory.
Caradoc blinked. “Oh, what is it?” He shrugged when Naomi frowned. “My twee thinks it might know.”
“This I want to hear.” The elfqueen settled down against his side. “Veronica is leading the elves back. Where are the milktits?”
“They’re stacking firewood for the pyre. My people burn their dead.” He pulled out his pokedex and activated it. “Twee, talk through my dex so Naomi can hear it. So, what’s this theory?”
The dex spoke in a voice similar to Bishop’s. “I’ve been analyzing memories of the times we’ve seen Hamilton, trying to get a feel for his psychological makeup. Something else caught my attention and so I pulled some records from Alexandria. Selene was kind enough to help out.” The holographic display lit to display a hovering pokegirl standing upright. It rotated to show her from all sides. “This is Hamilton’s pia. I’m almost completely certain she’s a pokekit, and a young one at that. Selene thinks she’s not older than thirteen. If true, then it’s likely that Hamilton was a pedophile. Gina and the others are around ten and may have been closer to his type.”
Naomi stared at the display. “That means he’ll be after the other kits too.” She looked at Bishop with the beginnings of panic in her eyes. “What can we do when he comes back?”
Caradoc smiled slightly. “He won’t be coming back. The penalty for rape where I come from is death. I’ve already carried out the sentence.”
“You killed the administrator of Falmouth?” Naomi stared at him. “While I agree he should die, how is Jordan going to take it?”
Bishop shrugged. “I don’t know. I finished the radio traffic without reporting what happened, so Montego has no idea that anything is wrong until someone from Falmouth tells him about it.”
Naomi sighed and rubbed her eyes. “That’s going to happen as soon as Leah can’t find Hamilton and gets back to Falmouth only to discover he’s really missing. That’ll take several hours, but eventually she’s going to put two and two together and come looking for him. Where is his body?”
“It’s already on the pyre. I’ll move these two there after the milktits are done.”
“What do we do now?”
Bishop stood and reached for her hand to pull her up with him. “We can’t stay. Jordan won’t be able to forgive me killing Hamilton for murdering Gina. We’ll have to leave the Tropic League and make a home somewhere else. Maybe we’ll live on Haven, and then again, maybe not.”
“What about the others?”
“They’ve all got pokeballs and I said I’d take care of them. They go with us.”
She nodded. “Good. I hate leaving the farm to them, though.”
“It can’t be helped. We’ll rebuild.”
Naomi looked around and her eyes began to glitter. “Yes, we will, but in the meantime I have an idea.”
“Oh?”
(09/14/06 1630 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Lori met his eyes. “Thank you for taking us with you.”
He managed a smile. “I said I’d take care of you. Besides, if I don’t take you with us, Naomi will only have Veronica, Shima and me to boss around. I would go crazy.”
The elf laughed. “That’s true, sir.” She shouldered her bow and picked up the coffee tree that Naomi had selected and grown out of the ground for her. “Be seeing you.”
Caradoc nodded and activated the pokeball, sucking the elf and the tree into it. He turned to Naomi. “Except for the harem and me, that’s the last of them.” Other elves had been stored with berry bushes, seeds, sugarcane plants and other vegetation that Naomi was determined to take with them. The rest of the stuff had been rudely chopped down or pulled up by the elves and piled where Naomi could drain the moisture from them until they were completely dry. Aging them to ash would have been preferable, but it would have taken more energy than she had right now, so this was the second best choice.
The dried vegetation that would fit had been piled inside their home and the Henry house, with the rest piled on top of the sugarcane press and the funeral pyre.
Naomi gave a small building by itself a glare. “I still think we should do that one too.”
“Jordan didn’t give us the radio, so it’s not ours to deny to our enemies. I know that sounds odd, but it’s still true.” He turned to Veronica. “Hand them out.”
“Yes, sir.” She gave everyone a torch. “I like this plan. Naomi was right to deny our work to them.”
He hefted his torch. “You don’t see me trying to stop you, do you?” He turned to Shima. “Well?”
The nightmare held up her hand. A jet of intense fire sprang from it and the others quickly lit their torches. Her gaze was somber as she looked at him. “We will have a home again someday, right?”
“Of course we will. Being homeless isn’t a good place to raise children.” He lifted the torch and looked around. “Burn it.”
The End
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit