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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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Twelve
(08/14/06 0830 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Jordan smiled at his brass as she put a cup of coffee on the corner of his desk and turned back to Caradoc. “What brings you back here, Bishop?”
“I’ve got an updated list of the stuff for sale from Haven. There are a couple of things I’d like to point out that you might find interesting.” He offered a sheet of paper to the Tropic League regional commander.
“Why don’t you give me the short version of it? I’ve got a full schedule this morning.” Jordan scanned the list quickly.
“One of the new items that I thought you’d be interested in is a computer program and textbook set about basic pokegirl care. This is aimed at educating children and provides an introduction to pokegirls to familiarize them with how best to deal with them. Another section that might be of interest is the expanded medical section. In it you’ll find there’s a new and fairly inexpensive test for human fertility. In contrast to the test program you’ve got right now, this test is self contained. It takes only five minutes to get a result and doesn’t involve drawing blood.” Bishop leaned back in his chair and folded his legs. “That would free up your lab personnel for other work.”
“It certainly would. I’m sure we’ll be ordering some to try them out. It would also facilitate testing in the field.” Jordan reached for his coffee. “That’s been a real sticking point. People don’t want to come in for testing.”
“With all due respect, commander, considering what happens to the women who test as fertile, I can’t blame them.”
Jordan met his gaze. “You’ll have to enforce league law in your region, administrator. If you can’t I’ll have you replaced.”
“I understand the requirements of league law, commander. I also have my personal opinion of it and while I do miss the Henry family, on another level I’m glad I won’t have to drag anyone off to gaol when they prove fertile.”
“It’s not quite that bad, Bishop.”
“I think, commander, that the fact that nobody is allowed in to see the women and they aren’t allowed to leave hints that we really don’t know that’s true.”
“We have to save the human race. This is for the greater good.”
Caradoc took a deep breath. “Perhaps we need to change the subject, commander. You are not going to be able to convince me that the needs of an individual are outweighed by the needs of a group of individuals.”
Jordan persisted. “As the government, we have a moral obligation to do what’s best for our people, even if it inconveniences some of them.”
Bishop opened his mouth to ask how that differentiated the league from the Black Rivers but stopped when he got a very strong feeling that this was a bad idea. He frowned and reconsidered his words. He glanced at Naomi and was surprised at the expression of fixed concentration on her face as she stared at the wall. The feeling that he was making a mistake came again, this time stronger.
That is not coming from me or you, but from an external source. It is like a telepathic contact, but subtler. Could it be from Naomi?
Bishop realized that Jordan was waiting for him to answer, and that every indication was that his patience was starting to fray. “Sorry, commander, I was thinking that maybe we should leave my answer to the fact that I understand my duties as the duly appointed administrator of Falmouth and will carry them out regardless of my personal opinions.” For now.
Jordan nodded slowly. “That will do for now, Bishop.” He smiled with an obvious effort. “Is there anything else?”
Caradoc held up a pokeball. “I’ve also got you another recruit, commander.”
Jordan didn’t look surprised, but he did look like he was relaxing a little as the conversation was steered away from possibly treasonous discussion. “Recently most of your visits have involved new recruits. I’m sure she’ll be welcomed. What is she?”
“She’s a grandelf. They’re a plant and magic type.”
Curiosity flicked across Commander Jordan’s face and then he gave Caradoc a wry smile. “An elf? I thought you were keeping all of them for yourself.”
“Sometimes new pokegirls can cause friction in established hierarchies. This one will do better in the army.”
Jordan put down his cup and nodded. “You keep this up and I’ll have to establish someone to procure pokegirls full time. The ones you’ve given us so far are turning out to be fairly impressive.” The sugarcane had worked as expected and he’d already turned a handful of captured ferals over to the league, not counting the ponytaur and the grandelf.
“You might want to consider giving your tamers pokeballs and sending them out to capture ferals instead of driving them off.” Caradoc uncrossed his legs and leaned forward for emphasis. “You’re already seeing that they don’t stay away. Only killing or capture will solve the problem. Capture gives you more pokegirls for use and is a lot faster than breeding them in your ranch.”
“I’d like to do that. Can you get us more pokeballs?”
Caradoc nodded. “I can get you all you want at the price we agreed on. I’d also suggest putting in a PPHU at every command post or township where you’ve got teams of tamers. The ability to heal their pokegirls quickly will increase their efficiency by a very significant amount. Haven also sells healing potions, but in the long run PPHU are more cost efficient for a facility.”
“I’ve considered that. What I’m leaning towards more is putting them in the towns and giving our outposts more of your great grapes instead. It’s cheaper. It’s also cheaper than your list of potions, too.”
“You’re the customer.”
“Yes, I am.” Jordan smiled broadly. “I’m also the government, as are you.”
Bishop chuckled. “I hope you won’t hold that against me. What about the stamina potions? Those I do recommend you invest in, especially as your tamers get more pokegirls in their harems.”
“Right now most of my men only have a single pokegirl, so I won’t be buying a lot of those.”
Caradoc made a mental note and changed the subject. “Have there been any more reports of the Black Rivers?”
Jordan grimaced and glanced at his brass. Meredith shook her head slowly in response. “Fortunately, no.”
“Why fortunately?”
“Every time we face them, we get our heads handed to us. They’re frighteningly good.”
If they have anything approaching a normal harem, they’ll be much more flexible than league forces.
“They tend to use more than one pokegirl per tamer, don’t they?”
Jordan blinked. “How did you know that?”
“It’ll make them a lot more flexible than your men. Tell your men to have some of the Tropic League pokegirls fight defensively and then send the others after their tamers. The Rivers pokegirls will go on defense as soon as you do that, unless they’ve got pokegirls that can’t think defensively, like the dark lady. Take out their tamers and in most cases the pokegirls will fall apart or run. If you can capture the tamers relatively unharmed it would be even better. Often pokegirls can be convinced to surrender if they’re attached to their tamers.”
“You think so?”
“Pokegirls with tamers are not like the forces Sukebe had. They are pack creatures and will try to keep their tamers alive.”
Jordan gave him a thoughtful look. “I’ll consider your words and review our battle reports of previous engagements. If I see what you say I will, then I’ll see about new orders to my men.”
“I’m just trying to help. I’d prefer not to have to face the Black Rivers at my farm and if you can’t stop them, eventually I will.”
Jordan didn’t say anything. They both knew Caradoc was right. Finally, Meredith cleared her throat softly. “Sir, you’ve got the appointment with the leader of the merchant’s association in ten minutes.”
“That’s right. Thank you.” Jordan turned to his guest. “Bishop, let me know if you need me to station some tamers at your farm.”
Caradoc wanted that about as much as he wanted the Black Rivers to show up, but he smiled pleasantly. “I’ll do that.” He motioned to Naomi and left the office, giving Nina a wave as he did. He’d considered saying farewell to Meredith, but they’d never been introduced.
They paused as soon as they were outside. “Sir, do you think he’ll tell his tamers to target the enemy tamers?”
“Eventually he will. When he loses a couple more of his own personnel, he’ll be ready to give anything a try.”
“Hopefully he won’t lose too many,” Naomi broke off when Caradoc stiffened and his eyes filled with an anger that quickly changed to hate. She automatically slid her bow into her hands. “What is it?” She scanned the direction he was looking in but only saw a handful of humans and a couple of pokegirls.
She watched as he forced himself to relax. “It’s nothing.” He turned to her. “Let’s go.”
“Hey! You there! Stop!” Naomi looked behind them to see one of the pokegirls, a tall woman wearing a leather bikini top and skirt, was running in their direction. Caradoc squared his shoulders and turned around as he plastered a patient expression on his face. The pokegirl came to a halt and grinned at him. “I thought it was you.”
“Hello Janine.” Naomi blinked at her tamer’s flat tone. It was completely devoid of emotion and so unlike him as to sound like someone else entirely.
Janine looked him up and down. “You remember my name, that’s so sweet. You look like you healed well. I really thought that you’d die or at least be permanently crippled you. I’ll do better next time.” She touched his cheek. “Care to go another round?”
He didn’t pull away. “No, I don’t. Don’t ever touch me again.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That attitude just might get you invited to play with me after all. You’re just a worker.”
“I’m a tamer now and I don’t care what you think about my attitude.”
Janine looked Naomi up and down. “So you got an elf. Whoopee. My tamer outranks you.” She smirked at Caradoc. “Maybe I can get a two for one.”
“I’m the administrator of a region, Janine. I am not going to be your toy again.”
“Administrator, huh? Well, sir,” she sneered the word, “I guess you’re right about that. Unless, of course, you get fired.”
Caradoc shook his head. “Come along, Naomi.”
Janine gave him a fond look. “I broke you. You’ll never forget that, sir.” Laughing, she headed down the street.
Naomi touched his arm. “Are you ok, sir?”
He gave her an angry glance that warmed when he saw the concern in her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Who is she?”
“She’s the one who gave me my scars.”
“What did she do?”
“She skinned me during an interrogation when I came to the Tropic League. If it hadn’t been for my ability to block pain and heal better than a human, I probably would have died.”
Naomi’s mouth thinned angrily. “I see.” Her hands clenched on her bow.
“Let it go. She was doing her job. The fact that she didn’t get anything from me means I won that one.”
Naomi looked into his eyes and slowly nodded. “I’ll do what you want, sir.” She shouldered her bow and, as required in Montego Bay, fell in behind him.
(08/14/06 1245 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Janine headed into latrine and closed one of the stall doors behind her before pulling up her skirt and settling down on the bench to urinate. She heard the door to the stall next to hers close and promptly ignored it.
In the next stall, Naomi took a small sack from her belt pouch and pulled some small black objects from it. The elfqueen dropped them into the toilet hole and then held her hand flat over the opening. She focused her will and released it.
Passiflora laurifolia is an invasive tropical vine that grows up to nine meters, or thirty feet, in length and can bear small yellow fruit used in drinks and alcoholic beverages. Under the elfqueen’s command, the seeds sprouted and sent roots deep into the human waste, anchoring the plant even as they sought nutrients to feed the vines exploding upwards.
Janine was cleaning herself up when the vines boiled up through the toilet seat she was on. They surged over her body and wrapped around her throat with bands as strong as steel, cutting off her cry of surprise before more than a squeak escaped. More loops twined around her, pinning her arms and legs together. The vines then lifted her from the ground and rotated her body to line it up with the toilet hole. At that point they contracted, pulling her through the hole and into the sewage pit.
The dominatrix struggled futilely against her bonds as she was pulled into the waste and to the bottom of the sewage pit. There, the vines twisted around her body as they tightened their grip on her until they sliced through her clothing and flesh even as she drowned.
Naomi waited a full five minutes before willing the vines to die and decompose. Then she left her stall and unlocked the one Janine had chosen before washing her hands and leaving the latrine building.
Walking quickly, but not so fast as to draw attention to herself, the elfqueen made her way back to the market in the center of town and to the booth where Shima was selling the produce they’d brought.
Shima gave her a glare. “Where have you been? You were gone too long. Our master returned early. Veronica can’t do math well yet and he had to take her with him instead of me. It was supposed to be my turn.”
Naomi shrugged. “Something came up and I had to take care of it. I’ll stay here for my next break to make it up to you.” She dug into the box they kept money in and handed some to the nightmare. “Go get yourself and Winona something nice to eat. I hear that someone around here has an ice pokegirl and is using her to make ice cream.”
Shima shook her head. “Winona can’t leave the booth. His orders. I’ll see about the ice cream and if there is any, I’ll bring some back for us all.”
“That sounds even better. I’ve got the booth.”
(08/16/06 1830 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Caradoc flipped a couple of switches to take the radio to standby and leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful expression. He glanced at the battery level indicator and nodded to himself as he noted that it was time to recharge the battery.
A short time later, Naomi found him pedaling away on the exercise bike outside the radio room. They’d hooked the bike up to drive a generator that charged the batteries needed for the shortwave. With the regular radio traffic, it was necessary to keep a close eye on the charge level in order to avoid losing communications with Bog Walk and Montego at a critical time.
Originally, they’d set the generator down at the river and ran an electrical line up to the radio room and the house with the idea of providing power to the property. Before they could finish running the cable, however, something that lived in the river had destroyed the generator they’d been given by Montego. The one they had now had been scavenged from a building in Falmouth and converted from a gasoline engine to manual operation since there was no gasoline to be had at any price.
Caradoc had kept the engine, however, and had plans to convert it to run on alcohol. However, his plans to produce beer and rum were still in the design stage since he hadn’t taken the time to visit any of the places that had been making rum before the Red Plague had swept through. Things were busy enough that he didn’t expect to have the opportunity to visit the Appleton Estate Rum facility for a while.
The elfqueen watched him pedal for a moment. They’d already had the talk about how she didn’t think he should be doing this kind of manual labor. According to her, he had much better ways he could be spending his time. He’d agreed that she was allowed to have her opinion and then kept on doing it anyways. She’d finally stopped bringing it up.
Naomi finally shook her head and leaned against the wall. “Anything new from Kingston?”
“The Tropic League has decided to open official recruiting stations for their tamers in all of their major cities. They’ve also decided to establish uniform levels of training. Now all tamers from Jamaica will have to go to Kingston for their initial training. After that they’ll be detailed by the Tropic League to wherever the league says their needed.”
“Does that mean you’ll have to go?”
“No, it’s just for the new ones. According to the report, there’s been some empire building by local administrators on some of the other islands and this is part of their plan to quash that.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“To an extent, I’m sure it will. However, I don’t think it’ll do as much as they’re hoping for. The only way to do that is to transfer recruits to different islands in the league. Travel between islands is still very sporadic, so that’s not really much of an option.”
Naomi picked up a stone and began to roll it between her palms. “Anything else?”
“Yes, and it’s disturbing. Kingston asked Montego for an inventory of all their antibiotics. There’s been an outbreak of some kind of illness in Kingston. They don’t consider it anything serious as of yet, but about a dozen people have been incapacitated by it. There’s concern it’ll get worse before it gets better.”
“If it’s not serious, why is it disturbing?”
“I’m the one who finds it disturbing, not the authorities in Kington. Some of the symptoms remind me of typhoid. Right now the authorities in Kingston don’t think it’s a big deal, but considering the state of medical care right now, if it is typhoid, things could get really ugly, really fast.”
“Can pokegirls catch it?”
“Nobody knows. I’m going to send word to Haven so they’re apprised of the situation in case things start getting bad.”
“How bad could things get?”
Bishop stopped pedaling and got off the bike. Grabbing a towel, he began wiping the sweat off his face and neck. “If left untreated, typhoid and the secondary complications can kill up to thirty percent of the people who come down with it. Right now humanity doesn’t have that to spare.”
(08/18/06 0915 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Bishop put the headphones down and hit the power button on the transmitter. Rising, he checked the battery charge and headed in search of his alpha.
Naomi was on the ridge around the farm, looking over the coffee plants while a couple of her elves watched and learned from her. Caradoc caught her eye and then leaned against a tree trunk while she finished up her lesson before joining him. She slipped her arm through his. “Is something wrong?”
“Something new is happening and so I’m not sure. I’ve been summoned to Montego to see Jordan tomorrow morning. I’m not sure that I like the fact that the subject of this meeting wasn’t specified. That makes it kind of hard to prepare for it.”
“Are you worried about whatever it is?”
“Not really. I just don’t like preemptory summonses. I have to drop everything here and go running off like a good little drone.” He shrugged. “On the other hand, it’ll give you a chance to go for a stroll in Montego and fix some of the mules.”
She nodded slowly. “Do you want to do this so soon after our visit to Mandeville?”
“I do. If we hit them all quickly, it’ll be harder for them to sequester all of the suddenly fertile women. There’ll be too many to just disappear.”
A cautious look appeared on her face. “Will they be able to trace this back to our visits to these areas?”
“I doubt it. They’re not tracking a single tamer and his harem on their travels. They don’t have the infrastructure for it.” He rubbed her fingers with his. “On the other hand, some night visits might be in order to avoid them establishing a pattern with us in the center.” He glanced at her. “If you’re up for a trip, we can cover Spanish Town tonight.”
He got a mildly annoyed look in return. “It was supposed to be my turn in your bed tonight.”
“So move it back to tomorrow night so we get the whole night together. Or you could skip it. You get every other night with me as it is.”
“I am the alpha and more time with you is one of my rights. I could push back my night to tomorrow.” She frowned and shook her head. “No, I know Shima and Veronica often arrange for things to do on the nights they’re free. Some of it is planned well in advance. I guess skipping my night with you and not changing the pattern is best for the harem.”
He wrapped her up in his arms. “Even if they don’t, I appreciate your sacrifice.”
“You’d better,” she warned in a teasing voice. “I make these horrible sacrifices for your well being, my lord.”
He chuckled and kissed her gently. “Then we need to prepare for our little trip.”
(08/18/06 1930 Spanish Town, Tropic League)
Caradoc and Naomi slid off of Shima. Even as they dismounted, Shima changed back to her bipedal form. “Are you going to pokeball me?”
“I don’t like pokeballs, remember? I try not to use them unless absolutely necessary.” He pulled a shawl out of his pack and handed it to Naomi. “I guess that makes it your choice.”
“Then if it’s ok, I’d prefer to monitor the situation from overhead.” The nightmare looked up at the moonless sky with an expression of longing. “It’s a good night for a run.”
Caradoc looked up and then at her. “It must be wonderful to be able to fly.”
“It is.” She looked at him. “I’ll fly for you whenever you want.”
“Thanks. Now get up there. Don’t get so distracted that you forget to keep an eye on us.”
“I won’t.” She changed back to her centaur form and ran into the sky.
The night breezes had started and Naomi pulled the shawl around her shoulders against the light chill. “How do you want to do this?”
“We go to where there are concentrations of people and you use the Earth Mother technique.” He pulled a wig out of his pokepack and carefully put it on before covering it with a straw hat. “How’s it look?”
“I don’t like you with dreads, but for this I guess it looks fine.” The elfqueen pulled her hair up and wrapped it and her ears in a bright plaid scarf. “I’m not going to look much more human without surgery.”
He chuckled and slipped his arm through hers. “It’s dark enough that your eyebrows will just look dark and they’d have to undress you to find anything out of the ordinary. In any case, most men won’t get past your breasts.”
She leaned against him. “You’re probably right. Let’s get this done and get home. We do need some sleep before going into Montego in the morning.”
(08/19/06 0900 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
“Good morning, Nina. I’m not late, am I?”
Nina looked up at Caradoc and Veronica and smiled at them. “Good morning to you. No, Mr. Bishop, not only are you on time, but Commander Jordan is running a bit late.”
“Was there an emergency?”
“He was out late last night on personal business.” She glanced at the door and dropped her voice. “He’s a widower, you know. His wife died in the plagues. Last night he was on the first date he’s been on since her death.” She looked smug. “I introduced them.”
Caradoc hadn’t known that Jordan was a widower. “That’s good to hear. I hope they get along.”
She smirked at him. “I’m pretty sure the fact that he’s late to work is proof that they did. Please have a seat. He shouldn’t be too long.”
Bishop dropped into a chair. “I don’t suppose you know what he wanted me here to talk about?”
She nodded solemnly. “I do, Mr. Bishop, but I can’t tell you what it is about.”
“Am I in some kind of trouble?”
“I’m not supposed to discuss it with you.” She glanced at the door and spoke softly. “No, but you probably won’t consider all of the news good.”
Caradoc looked at her evenly for a moment and nodded. He looked up at his valkyrie and picked up a book. “Sit down, Veronica, and let’s work on your reading.”
“Yes sir.”
A half hour later Meredith walked in with a tray of coffee. She glanced at Caradoc and turned to Nina. “My master is having a late breakfast downstairs. He’ll be up in a few minutes.”
Nina nodded. “His morning summaries are on his desk. There aren’t any emergencies and, as you can see, Tamer Bishop arrived as scheduled.”
The brass glanced at Caradoc and Veronica again. “He will be glad for that. Good morning, Tamer Bishop.”
“Good morning Meredith.”
“Commander Jordan will arrive shortly.” The brass headed into the office with the tray.
Nina waited until the door shut. “Commander Jordan usually goes over the summaries of anything that happened overnight before seeing visitors. You may be waiting for another hour if he doesn’t change his morning routine.” Her eyes flicked to the door again. “He usually doesn’t.”
Caradoc shrugged. “I know most of what he’s going to read since I handle the radio traffic in Falmouth. As for waiting, I’d rather be back on the farm, but Veronica can use the reading and spelling lessons.”
The valkyrie gave him a proud look. “Yes, sir, I need them. I am improving.”
“That you are and I’m very pleased with your progress.” He patted her on the knee. “Now back to work.”
Ten minutes later Jordan came in the door and nodded to his secretary. “Nina.” He looked at Caradoc. “Bishop, I’ll be with you after I review the night’s proceedings.”
“I understand, Commander Jordan.”
“I am sorry to keep you waiting, but if I don’t keep my morning routine then my day is shot completely to hell.”
Caradoc nodded. “I’ve met people who need a routine to focus themselves before. Do you have any idea how long your review will take?”
“About an hour or so. I’d let you go do something else, but I might finish early and my schedule today is packed. If I can speed this along, it’ll help a lot.” He disappeared inside his office.
Veronica gave him a curious look. “People need a routine?”
“Lots of people like having a routine. Some need it more than others to help guide them through their day. A few really, really need it. Jordan sounds like one of those. As long as he doesn’t have to make any sudden decisions before establishing his routine, he’ll be fine.”
Forty five minutes later Meredith opened the door to Jordan’s office. “The commander will see you now.”
“Thank you, Meredith.” Caradoc rose and motioned for Veronica to follow. He entered the room and paused. “Commander Jordan, you ordered me to report.”
Jordan looked surprised briefly and then nodded at the chair. “Sit, Bishop.” He straightened some papers on his desk. “I presume you’re so formal because you’ve never been summoned before.”
“That’s right. I presume that it’s something that cannot wait until I make one of my irregular trips into town.”
Jordan leaned back in his chair. “That’s very true, Bishop. I guess I’ll start with the good news. Your application to become a tradesman has been approved. On your way out, Nina will finish up your paperwork and issue you your tradesman’s badge. You need to keep it with you at all times so you can identify yourself as a tradesman.”
“I’m glad it got approved.”
“I am too. I know about the confrontation between you and Councilor Montgomery.” He sighed. “This brings me to news that’s not so good.” He straightened the already neat paperwork again. “I was instructed to start a settlement at Falmouth. I wasn’t planning to establish a presence there for several years and I informed my superiors of that. They accepted my report at face value.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “So they’ll be sending up a troop of civilians and tamers from Kingston instead. Certain members of the League Council are adamant that it’s time to recolonize Falmouth. One of them is your old friend.”
Bishop nodded. “How does this affect me?”
“First, I’ll be purchasing supplies from you to put in a cache in Falmouth for them when they arrive. If you’d rather, keep them on your property until the colonists arrive so they’ll be safe from ferals.” He pressed his fingers together. “When they arrive, they’ll be bringing a man by the name of Bernard Hamilton. He’s going to be the new administrator of the Falmouth area.”
Bishop blinked. “I’m being sacked.”
“I stressed that you’ve done nothing wrong, Bishop, but certain powers want this to happen. When combined with evidence that you don’t necessarily agree with the laws of the league you live in, the decision was made that a more suitable representative was needed.” He eyed Caradoc over his fingertips. “I fought it as much as I could, but I lost.”
“Thank you for the show of support, commander. So I’ll be a civilian tradesman with a farm. I’ve been there before.”
“You’ll remain on the league’s payroll as the custodian of the Falmouth shortwave radio.”
“I’d better start getting a paycheck then. Up to this point I’ve been doing it as part of my administrator’s job, which was being paid for by letting me put my farm first. That radio has taken up a good hour of my day both morning and evening. Two hours of daylight that I could be working my farm and I’ll want compensation for that or the new administrator can come get his bloody radio.”
Jordan smiled slightly as Meredith fought to keep her face straight. “I’m glad to see that being sacked hasn’t hurt your ego.”
“Commander, you’re taking a job away from me that I didn’t want in the first place. I’m just pointing out that they either need to take the whole job or start paying me for what I’m still stuck with.”
“That sounds fair enough to me, Bishop. I’ll pass it up the chain of command and get a pay scale set up for you. How much do you think you should be paid?”
“That radio takes up two hours of my daylight. How about one sixth of the value of what I produce each year?”
Jordan looked shocked. “I don’t think the league can afford that.”
Caradoc shrugged. “You asked. If your forces have been capturing elves, I’d take eight elves a year instead.”
Jordan blinked. “Eight?” His eyes narrowed. “Two.”
So they had been capturing elves. That is good to know. I wonder what the range of Naomi’s call is.
“Two won’t help at all. How about this? I was going to counter with six and you probably would respond with four, so we’ll just go straight to five and call it a deal. How’s that sound?”
Meridith choked off a laugh and Jordan chuckled. “Fine. You’ll get five elves a year, to be delivered during the month of August in remembrance of this agreement. In return you’ll operate the radio for the Falmouth administrator.” He shook his head. “I’ll make the arrangements for the first shipment in a couple of days.”
“I appreciate that. When is the new administrator due?”
“His schedule isn’t set in stone, but he should be setting out in a couple of weeks.”
Caradoc nodded. “If you’ve got a list, I’ll get started putting those supplies together and figuring out your bill.”
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit