Into the Fire
Four
Kerrik marched up the hill and stopped at the entrance to the cave. “Hey! You two in there! Get out here! Remember when I said I was going to bathe this morning and I heard a chorus of ‘Don’t go in the river. Feral pokegirls prefer moving water. Use a pool instead. You’re unlikely to find a feral in a pool if there’s moving water nearby.’? I certainly remember it. Well, I didn’t find a feral, but you overlooked something.”
Eve appeared in the opening of the cave, yawning. “Scheherazade is off hunting breakfast for us. What are you yelling about?” She stopped and stared. “What the hell happened to you?”
Kerrik spread his arms wide. He was nude and dripping wet. His body was covered with shiny black objects that clung to his skin. One was even on his right cheek while another hung from his ear. The Megami blinked when some of them pulsated slowly. “I’ll tell you what happened. Feral pokegirls might not like pools, but leeches fucking damned well do.” He shrugged. “Get my knife. You can’t pull them off and you can’t use fire or electricity because when agitated like that they regurgitate. If they’re attached, they do it into the wound they’ve made and I don’t need all the infection issues that could crop up.”
“So what am I doing with your knife?” She blinked. “You have a leech on your cock.”
“You slip the edge of it under the mouth and lift up to break the suction. After that happens, they’ll come loose.” He grimaced. “And for the record, I have two on my dick and at least one on my testicles. At this point I’m just glad I don’t have one in the crack of my ass.”
Eve giggled. “I’ll get the knife.” She disappeared into the cave and returned quickly with his knife.
“You’re wearing a different dress this morning. Can you summon clothing?”
She nodded. “I can.”
“Can you summon it as much as you want? If I wanted to keep you nude, would you run out of clothing?”
She smiled and shook her head. “No, you can’t keep me naked if I don’t want to be. I can make clothes all day long.”
“That’s good. Take off your dress.”
A blue eyebrow shot up. “Why?”
“I want to use it to keep the leeches. Once I’m clean, I want to put them back in the pond.”
“You don’t want them in the fire?”
“They didn’t do anything to me, except maybe drink some of the rarest blood in the world since it’s completely clean of pokegirl genes. They belong in the pond.”
Eve smiled. “I like that idea.” She slipped her dress over her head and dropped it to the ground. The air around her shimmered and she was suddenly wearing a chocolate colored wrap dress.
“I thought you’d ask me to look away or something like that.”
“Since I’m hoping you’ll tame me sometime today, you seeing my body right now will hopefully act as an incentive for you.” She peered pointedly at his groin and looked pleased. “Well, you don’t think I’m ugly.”
“Of course I don’t.” He chuckled. “So what do you think of the idea of my describing dress fashions to you and having you create dresses like that for sale?”
“I don’t think very much of that idea. I would prefer not to cheapen my gifts by using them so blatantly for money.” She began to carefully remove leeches from his chest. “I’d like to get used to doing this before I try on your privates.” She smiled at him. “Since I’m hopeful that you’ll take me to bed soon, I don’t want to impair your ability to use them.”
“Makes sense to me.” He watched her work for a moment. “What are you doing?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You remove a leech and then heal the bite. Just get them all off and you can heal me afterwards. It’ll go faster.”
The Megami frowned. “You’re right. And it means you can help me with another problem.”
“You have more problems? For a girl who came with just the clothes on her back, you are beginning to sound like you have a lot of baggage.”
“You might enjoy this problem.” She winced when she cut him. “Sorry.”
“You’re helping me a lot. There’s no need to apologize. What is this problem and how can I help?”
She paused to meet his eyes. “I wasn’t born a Megami.” When he didn’t say anything she continued. “I was born a Cherry and later I evolved to Megami.”
“When were you born?”
She sighed. “Do I have to answer that?”
“No, you don’t. I was just curious.”
“I want to trust you, but it’s hard to do so. I’ve been free for so long that I’d like to keep some of my life to myself.”
“Then I retract the question. Eve, what is the problem you need help with?”
“I didn’t stop lactating when I became a Megami. Normally I express the milk and give it to the needy or sell it for money to give to charity but now that I’m in a harem I can’t do that anymore without your permission. This morning I’m full and it’s starting to get painful. When I’m done, I’ll make it a healing drink and you can use it to heal your wounds.” She glanced down and smirked at what she found. “I see the idea isn’t completely repulsive to you.”
“Not completely, no,” he murmured quietly. “I have to ask, though, how much milk do you produce? Is it anything like the Milktit?”
She gave him a startled look and jumped when she cut him again. “Certainly not. I produce about a liter a day from each breast.”
“That’s two kilograms of milk a day. That’s still impressive. I’m not sure I can drink that much milk every day, but we’ll find a use for it.”
***
Scheherazade landed in front of him and dropped a pair of rabbits in his lap. “The rabbits are getting fewer in number than our predation can account for. I saw some sign that something has been killing and eating them. I think a pack of feral pokegirls has moved into the area.”
He nodded as he began skinning the animals. “Do we ignore them, hunt them or relocate somewhere else?”
“You want my advice?” She seemed surprised.
“One, you’re supposed to be the adviser to my general, aren’t you?” He continued when she nodded. “Two, you have already saved my life. At this point it would be kind of silly to stop trusting your ability to protect me.”
She looked thoughtful. “We can stay here. If they come around the cave, we’ll go to Dundalk and come back when you’re a hunter. They get to have unlimited pokegirls if they’re to sell.” She sniffed him. “Why do you smell of Eve’s perfume and blood?”
“I smell of blood because I got attacked by leeches when I went to bathe.”
The Dire Wolf giggled. “How did you do that?”
“I listened to you and Eve, that’s how. It’s funny that in my time and place, leeches are endangered because of excessive harvesting for medical use. Apparently in the last three hundred years they’ve recovered nicely.”
“So what about the perfume we noticed?”
“It turns out that what we smelled on Eve is her natural scent. She evolved from a plant pokegirl. Her scent is that of bluebonnets, and that’s why it was familiar to me. That also explains her hair. It’s patterned like bluebonnets. And yes, the carpet matches the drapes.”
Her ears flicked. “What?”
“All of her hair is the same color.”
“Oh. Why didn’t you say that?”
“I did. Apparently not all slang has managed to survive the centuries.”
She smiled. “It’s probably because a lot of pokegirls don’t have carpet. Several breeds are naturally hairless around the pussy. Am I to understand that the reason you smell like Eve is because you fucked her?”
“That’s right.”
He grunted when Scheherazade dropped into his lap and twisted around to face him. She lifted his shirt and rubbed her face against his chest and stomach. “There, now you also smell of me.”
“I take it that’s important to you?”
“Yes, it is.”
He pulled the shirt down as she got to her feet again. “Then, I suppose as long as you’re happy. By the way, Eve evolved from a Cherry and continues to lactate from it. You’re welcome to take some from her.”
She gave him an amused look. “While I’m sure you’d like to watch that happen, I can’t nurse off of her.”
He frowned until the light dawned in his eyes. “Ah, another one of those things that nobody talks about. You have a muzzle.”
She nodded. “That’s right. I have an adult canine muzzle, which means that I can’t suck. That’s why I can’t give you head like she can, either.” Her ears flicked. “Does that bother you?”
Kerrik grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his lap. “Not in the slightest. I like oral sex but I’m not going to shrivel up and die if I don’t get it regularly.”
Scheherazade made a contented noise and shifted until both of them were comfortable. “I’m glad to hear that. You’ll just have to find a third pokegirl to satisfy your lesbian wet nursing fantasies.”
“I have lesbian wet nurse fantasies? I wasn’t aware of that one. I was just thinking that her milk has more fat than the rabbits do and it would help keep your coat shiny. I guess she could express it into a cup for you to lap up.”
The Dire Wolf squirmed slowly in his lap. “Or you could do it the erotic way and take the milk from her nipple and then feed it to me. It means you don’t have to wash a cup afterwards.”
He chuckled. “You know, there is an inherent problem with threesomes, even in a harem environment. That’s the fact that someone always feels like they’re not getting enough attention and often their feelings get hurt over it. It’s not a big deal with women like professional hookers, porn stars who are being paid to act or someone you’ll only screw a couple of times. However, in a complicated relationship it’s a stone bitch as the resentment slowly grows over time until someone explodes because of it.”
She looked thoughtful. “You know, I was in some with my previous tamer and you’re right. I was resentful of the extra attention he gave our alpha when all of us were together.”
“Now I don’t have a problem giving anyone special attention when we’re alone. After all, I am supposed to be bonding my ladies to me as much as possible so they don’t bail on me at the next Sadie Pokems.”
“That’s Pokens.”
“Mine is more accurate. It’s nothing but Lamers walking around hoping to get a new girl to poke and others hoping to dump their troublemakers.” He smirked. “I’ve never written about it, but there are probably large numbers of tamers who send the unwanted pokegirls off and then they gather up the ones they want to keep and leave the celebration to either head off into the wilderness or go quickly to another town. That way they can enjoy the events while still abandoning the others.”
“Lamer?”
“It’s my special word for the idiot tamers and is a combination of lame and tamer.”
“Whatever you call them, abandoning girls who depend on you is horribly cruel to pokegirls.”
“If you’re waiting for me to disagree with you about that, you’d better get comfortable because it’s not going to happen.”
She nodded. “You know, we happen to be all alone right now. So, what kind of special attention can I get from you?”
“You cook those rabbits while I think of something appropriate.”
***
The low moan woke Eve up. She sat up in the dim light and smiled to herself as she pulled her dress on and belted it at the waist. A louder moan filled the air and she chuckled as she slipped on her shoes and headed for the mouth of the cave. “Oh, god, right there.” Scheherazade’s voice was low and thick. “Don’t stop.” The Megami poked her head out of the cave and blinked in surprise as another moan sounded.
The Dire Wolf was flat on the ground with her head resting in Kerrik’s lap. Her eyes were closed and an expression of bliss covered her face. Kerrik had his hands on her head and was scrubbing industriously with his fingers at the base of her ears with one hand while the other was buried in her hair as he scratched her scalp. She opened an eye when Eve smothered a laugh and closed it again when Kerrik scratched harder. “We’re not alone anymore, but don’t you dare stop.”
Eve sat down next to Kerrik. “You can’t do that yourself?”
The eye opened again. “I have claws. If I scratch like that, I’d end up slicing my skin open.” She groaned and sighed as he found another itchy spot. “I surrender. You can do anything you want to me as long as you do this too.”
He just grinned. “Hi, Eve.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Hello. What’s the plan for today?”
“We get hot and sweaty.”
She gave him an amused look. “We already did that.”
“You get to do it with Scheherazade this time. I’ll be working on my conditioning while she’s testing your skills.”
“Oh. You’re talking about combat skills, right?”
Scheherazade sighed and pulled herself out of his lap to lean against Kerrik’s shoulder. “I’ll be testing your combat skills, reflexes, range of abilities and anything else that I can think of. I’ll also be showing you what I’m capable of so you know what I can and can’t do.”
“If the testing is going to be that intense, how are we going to keep an eye on him while we’re doing it? That’s especially important if he’s going to be exercising and spraying male hormones all over the place. If there are ferals downwind, they’ll be drawn to him.”
Kerrik grimaced. “You know, that whole men are the squishy things paradigm is only funny when I’m not the person being stuck as the squishy one. I’ll find someplace to sit and watch you two. While I’m not afraid of dying, I’m no longer looking for ways to hasten the event either.”
Eve frowned. “You wanted to die earlier?”
“Yup. I almost managed to do it, too. If that stupid Psi-Dyke had been a little dumber, she’d have finished the job.”
“That’s not true.” Scheherazade poked him in the shoulder with a talon. “She was plenty dumb. It was just that your last words to her caused her to realize what she’d done and panic enough to summon aid for you, even if it was too late to keep her from becoming soup. If you’d kept your mouth shut, you’d be digested and excreted already.”
He chuckled. “I’ll remember that for next time. Note to self, don’t taunt my murderer with their moronic nature.”
Eve gave them a bewildered stare. “What are you two talking about?”
“You know who you think I am, but you’re not aware of how I got here?”
“No, I don’t know. What happened?”
“I was on my world and going home when I was snatched across the dimensions to here by at least one Sanctuary Goth and aided by her asshole buddies, the Limbec Pirates.” His face turned grim. “The Sanctuary Goth had her pet Witch torture me for information about the other authors after a Limbec Ka-D-Bra blew her brains out trying to scan my mind. The Goth had to change clothes after she had an accident and I was left with a Psi-Dyke as my guard. I got the bright idea of goading her into killing me and it worked. Then Scheherazade brought me back to life.”
The Dire Wolf gave him an annoyed look. “The Psi-Dyke drove a knife into his heart and they brought me to him to keep him from dying on them. It was a close thing because his heart had been shredded. The Limbecs thought I was a Foxxsea with some healing skills. They hadn’t yet figured out why they couldn’t convert me to their beliefs and were starving and torturing me to weaken me enough to be more pliable. We escaped together.”
Eve was staring at them both. “You poor things. I’m surprised you’re not suffering from PTSD.”
Kerrik shrugged. “I’m functional, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“How do you feel about what they did to you?”
“Angry.”
“What are you angry about?”
Scheherazade leaned over Kerrik and grabbed Eve’s shoulder. “Stop it. What pain are you looking for? Do you want to know that I hold him at night and I can’t stop his fucking nightmares about what happened to him?” She shook the Megami. “Do you want to know I can’t protect him from those memories and that therefore I’m a fucking failure?” Her ears flattened and her voice rose until she was yelling. “What the hell do you want to dredge up from him?”
Kerrik put his hand on her arm. “Scheherazade, it’s ok. She doesn’t understand what happened and, honestly, that’s a good thing since she can act as a brake if we encounter a Goth and go a bit crazy. Now, let her go. She hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Eve took the Dire Wolf’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry, Scheherazade. I want to help and I thought I was. Please forgive me.”
Scheherazade took a deep breath and squeezed back. “I’m sorry, Eve. You didn’t deserve that.”
Kerrik looked from one girl to the other. “Ok, now you two kiss and make up and I think things will be settled.”
“What?” Scheherazade smacked him on the shoulder.
Eve got a mischievous look and slid over Kerrik’s legs and into the Dire Wolf’s lap. She pulled Scheherazade’s head down and kissed her thoroughly before giving him a wicked smile. “Is that good enough?”
He was openly staring at the two of them. “We shall pause here for a few moments in respect for an excellent comeback from Eve. That and so I can get my erection to go down enough that I can walk again.”
A doggirl two kilometers away looked up at the faint sound of unbridled laughter. Her ears flicked and she began slowly moving in an almost straight line away from the noise.
***
Kerrik opened the door to the Dundalk pokegirl center and looked around as he entered the room. A pink haired woman wearing a jumpsuit was sitting behind the counter and playing solitaire. She looked up. “Can I help you, sir?”
“Are you Cheryl?”
She sighed. “Yes, I am, and, sir, I am not interested in taming anyone except my tamer.”
He smiled slightly. “I wasn’t coming on to you. I just wanted to make sure that if you weren’t Cheryl, I didn’t presume you were and call you by her name. I haven’t met you yet, but April mentioned you when I was last here.”
“Oh? And what did she say about me?” The Nursejoy folded her arms over her chest.
“She said you weren’t a civil service pokegirl and that you were in fact a pokewoman. She also said you had three kids and that your tamer would flatten anybody who tried to tame you.”
“You really did talk to April. I’ve had some guys recently claim to have gotten into her confidence in the hopes of getting into me, but you seem to have actually managed to do so. Who are you, sir?”
“My name is Kerrik Wolf. I’m taking the tradesman exam in the morning.”
She gave him a suddenly warm smile. “So you’re the mysterious man that she keeps talking about.”
“I’m surprised I made that much of an impression.”
“You did. She’ll be sorry that she missed you.”
“I will too. I was hoping that she was on duty.”
“Her shift starts in four hours. I work from noon to midnight and she works from midnight to noon. Is there something I can help you with?”
He nodded. “I need both of my pokegirls run through a healing cycle. No cleaning, no conditioning.” He handed over the pokeballs. “I also wanted to see if you had an empty pallet in your common room. I’ll spend the night here so I’m not late for the exam.”
She nodded. “I’ll get these started right away, and yes, sir, there’s space for you. You can’t have any pokegirls out in there and there is to be no taming.”
“If I can’t have any pokegirls out, doesn’t the “no taming” rule go without saying?”
“It should, but we still get some tamers who think they can let their pokegirl out and have a bit of fun before bedtime.” She scowled. “We also had a female tamer raped a month ago.”
“I hope someone killed the bastard. I don’t rape. I’m not into dominating others in that fashion and I can always find a willing woman if I’m desperate.”
Cheryl shook her head. “We identified the rapist from DNA left in her body, but he’d already fled the area when the attack was discovered. He’s been flagged, so the next time he uses a pokegirl center he should be arrested.”
“Let’s hope that’s exactly what happens to the loser.”
The Nursejoy nodded grimly. “Exactly. I’ll be right back with your girls.” She headed through the mystery door and was gone. When she returned, Kerrik was drumming his fingers on the countertop while whistling softly. “Here you go, Mr. Wolf.”
“Thanks Cheryl.”
“Would you like me to let April know you’re here when she comes in?”
“I’m not that important. I was hoping to talk to her tonight, but I guess I’ll still be able to do that in the morning. Thanks, anyways.”
She gave him a pleased smile. “You’re quite welcome, sir.” She pointed down a narrow hallway. “The common room is at the end of the hall, sir. We are not responsible for thefts, but will help file a police report if something happens. Nothing has happened in the common room since the rape. The male washroom is on the right and the female is on the left before you get to the common room. You use your pokedex to get in the washroom. Please don’t get them mixed up.”
“I won’t.”
The bathrooms were prominently marked with silhouettes. The one on the men’s washroom was a profile of a figure sporting a rather large erection while the women’s had a female profile with prominent breasts and a curvy ass. Both doors were sealed with electronic locks with softly glowing red lights. The locks looked fairly new compared to the tired paint on the doors and walls. Kerrik tried the door to the men’s washroom. Locked. He took his pokedex and waved it near the lock. The light turned green and he was able to push the door open. On a hunch, he tried unlocking the door to the women’s washroom with his dex. Nothing happened. “That’s cute. Even illiterate pokegirls should be able to differentiate between the washrooms. The doors read your dex entry and verify your gender before letting you in. I’ll bet this was put in after the rape.” He retraced his steps to the counter. “Cheryl, since the doors are locked for anyone without a pokedex, how does a pokegirl get in to use the washroom?”
She smirked. “I give her a passkey.”
“That sounds like a good reason not to piss off the lady behind the counter.”
Her smirk became an open smile. “Sir, I would never lose the keycard and leave a pokegirl dancing in the main room just because her tamer was exceedingly unpleasant, but sometimes it does slip behind the counter where I can’t easily get to it, and, coincidentally of course, it does seem to happen more when I’m upset about some person’s behavior.”
“Of course. That’s really hard to avoid when you’re badly flustered by someone being a jackass. Well, thank you very much for answering my silly questions.” He headed back to the men’s washroom and went inside.
A few minutes later he came out and headed into the common room, which was just a square room with a dozen pallets regularly set up on the floor. A fireplace glowed warmly at the other end of the room and a small supply of firewood was piled next to the hearth. Three of the pallets closest to the fireplace were occupied by tamers. Two of them appeared to be asleep while the third was reading something on the display of his pokedex.
Kerrik picked a pallet close to the common room’s exit, but against one of the walls so as to be out of the path of traffic. He dumped his pack down at the head to serve as his pillow and pulled a road stained traveling cloak he’d bought at the Dundalk store out of the pack to wrap around himself before he laid down. Once settled, he unslung the shotgun and put it next to his leg while still keeping it inside the cloak.
He was almost asleep when a low moan dragged him back to consciousness. He sighed and looked around to see that the reading tamer had put his pokedex away and laid flat. His blanket bobbed up and down near his waist and the outline in the flickering flames from the fireplace was too big for just one person. “Hey! Knock that shit out. Some of us are trying to sleep.” Eyes glimmering in the semi-darkness indicated that the other two tamers were awake but chose to remain silent, pretending to still be asleep.
The tamer jumped and jerked upright with a gasp of pain as the pokegirl under the blanket bit him. “You sonofabitch,” he gasped and jerked the blanket away to slap the pokegirl in the face. “You made her bite me.”
The pokegirl whimpered and tried to cower away from her tamer. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Shut up.”
Kerrik suppressed the sudden urge to go over and stomp the tamer flat for beating a woman, something that could get a person shot back in Texas where he’d grown up. Unfortunately for his sense of propriety, the tamer was legally in the right to treat his pokegirl however he wanted. He snorted. “I hope that means you’re done, otherwise I’ll go talk to the Nursejoy and get your ass booted outside so you can do that to your heart’s content.”
“Fuck you, you prick.”
“You bring that thing over here and I’ll rip it off.” There was a snarl in Kerrik’s voice that made the tamer blink.
“Fuck you,” the young man muttered again. A red light flashed as he put his pokegirl up.
Kerrik opened his mouth to say something cutting and stopped when he realized he was unconsciously trying to goad the tamer into a fight. He took a deep breath and held it for a seven count before letting it out, imagining his anger wafting out with the escaping air. It was one of the ways he’d learned to handle his temper. He kept breathing deeply until he drifted into a light sleep.
***
“You. Wake up.”
His eyes snapped open when someone kicked the bottom of his boot. He jerked upright, the shotgun sliding out of the cloak as he lifted it. His finger was taking up the slack in the trigger when he recognized the startled face over the sights as belonging to April. He lowered the weapon into his lap. “Yes?”
The Ingénue gave him a neutral look. “You are not sleeping in here. Get up. Gather your things and come with me.”
A low laugh came from the bitten tamer’s pallet. “Goodbye, asshole. Guess you’ll be the one who gets to enjoy being outside.”
Kerrik ignored him and grabbed his pack as he slung the shotgun. April led him down the hallway and into the lobby before she turned around to face him. “Why did you tell Cheryl not to let me know you were here?”
“I didn’t. All I said was that I’d talk to you in the morning. I didn’t want to disturb your job, considering how hard it is for free pokegirls to find work.”
“My job isn’t that busy. Unless there’s an emergency I usually just sleep. Come with me.” She led him behind the counter and into the room with the daybed. “Instead of sleeping in the common room, you can sleep here. It’s much more comfortable.” She was looking in his direction, but not quite at him. He’d seen the same behavior in animals that expected to be kicked.
“Will you sleep here too?”
The Ingénue shook her head. “I’ll keep busy in the lobby. That way you won’t be bothered.” She was still avoiding his eyes.
“April, I don’t want to sleep alone. Will you spend the night with me?”
She finally met his eyes with a half fearful, half hopeful look. “You really want me to do that?”
He gave her a gentle smile. “You are supposed to be showing me what I’m missing by not having you in my harem, aren’t you?”
A tiny smile appeared on her face at his words. “I wasn’t sure you would really be interested in me. You’ve already got two pokegirls in your harem, and I’m just an Ingénue.”
“You naughty girl, you pulled my records.” His voice was teasing and he watched the tension drain from her shoulders. “That’s very smart. Then you know I’ve got a Megami in my harem. People with them tend to be fairly busy, so I may not be around a lot for a while.”
April nodded. “I know, but just knowing I’m not alone anymore would make it worth it. I don’t want to go with you. I like my job and I’ve got a place here. But I don’t want to not have someone a lot more.”
“I figured you would. You’re a good woman and you plan ahead and I have no plans to drag you off with me. If you keep me, it means we have a home to comeback to.” He put down the pack and shotgun to begin unbuttoning his shirt. “This is actually going to help me a lot, too.”
“How so?” She was watching his fingers with growing interest as more of his skin became visible.
“I’m always nervous before tests. I settle down once they start, but I get a lot of nervous energy that makes it hard to sleep and this is a great way to burn that off.”
She laughed and began working on the belt to her dress. “Well, now, I’m always glad to help a man in need.”
“It’s good to know you’re such a giving woman,” he murmured quietly. She laughed again.
***
April yawned and draped herself over his chest to give him a quick kiss. “If beginning tamers could do what you did last night, pokegirls wouldn’t need Sadie Pokens. They’d all be perfectly content where they were and nobody would ever consider leaving.”
“That’s not true and you know it.”
She looked thoughtful. “Ok, if you keep doing things like that to me, I won’t need it.”
“Then I’ll have to see to it that I do.” He jumped when an alarm buzzed.
April reached over and turned it off before sitting up. He shamelessly admired her body and she smacked him lightly on the chest. “It’s six and duty calls. The proctor will be in at eight, so you’ve got time to get cleaned up and get something to eat at the pub down the street.” She yawned again. “Did I help get rid of that nervous energy?”
“That you did.” He pulled her down for one last kiss before rolling out of bed. “I’m so relaxed I could use a nap.”
“Don’t you dare. You’d better stay awake during the test. I won’t have my man getting kicked out of his tradesman’s test because he fell asleep during it.” She blinked and slapped a hand over her mouth as she turned beet red. “I’m so sorry.”
Kerrik buttoned up his pants and frowned. “Whatever for?”
She relaxed a little at the confusion in his eyes. “I presumed you’re my man. That’s way out of line and I’m sorry. I’m glad for the taming and all, but I should never make that kind of assumption.”
“My home isn’t, not anymore. Even if I returned, the things I knew there would be at best just a horrible muddle. Unless I master time travel, this world is my best bet or at least it will be after I deal with a few lingering issues. I know a lot of your statement could be part of the whole taming paradigm, but I’ve never been wanted as much as I am here. It’s nice, but it’s also really scary. However, for the record, I could do a much worse than to be your man, April, and it’s a rather nice compliment that you want to consider me as such. If you want to call me your man, I won’t deny it.” His gaze turned curious. “Did you bond to me last night?”
The Ingénue shook her head. “I remember what that felt like to be bonded with Edward, and no, I didn’t.”
“I didn’t think you did, but then the tamer is always the last to know.”
She frowned and then giggled. “That’s true.” She kissed him quickly. “The test starts promptly at nine, but you really need to be here by at least eight thirty to complete the processing for the test. Don’t forget you need to get scanned by the celestial pokegirl that they’ll have brought as one of the proctors. I’ll see you then.” She slipped out the door and walked briskly towards the washrooms.
Kerrik finished dressing and, as soon as he was outside the center, let Eve and Scheherazade out of their pokeballs. “How did it go?”
The Dire Wolf shrugged. “I was able to monitor most of what was going on around my pokeball. Eve?”
“I’m just getting vague impressions. Still, that’s better than before when I didn’t get anything.”
“It sounds like both of you are off to an excellent start. Now we’ll get some breakfast and then I take the tradesman’s test.” He gave the Dire Wolf an amused look. “And I don’t think you can do what you did last time.”
“What did she do?”
“Scheherazade was concerned that I couldn’t be alone, so she turned invisible and stayed close to me the whole time I was taking my tamer’s exam.”
His maharani shrugged. “April came on to you, didn’t she?”
“And I turned her down. At least I did until this morning.” He nodded at a building. “There’s the pub.” His stomach rumbled loudly. “And it’s not a moment too soon.”
Eve raised an eyebrow. “Hungry, are you?”
“I could eat a tigress.”
The Megami snorted. “She’d probably like that.”
“She might think she would, but that would quickly change when I gutted her. Now let’s get something to eat. I need to be back by eight thirty for my scan and processing.”
***
The pokewoman standing next to April was a very near human and didn’t look like a pokegirl, but Kerrik knew she was a Megami, like Eve. She also didn’t look anything like his Megami. Although they were both tall, she was willowy where Eve was full figured. Her hair was a lustrous brown and her eyes were almost the same shade.
Those eyes followed Eve as they approached the counter. “Can I help you?”
“I’m here to take the tradesman’s exam. I also need scanned by either a celestial or psychic pokegirl. There wasn’t one available when I took my tamer test.”
The Megami gave him an aloof look. “Sir, with all due respect, I was speaking to your Megami.”
“Her name is Eve.”
“Sir, since you have a celestial, you understand that sometimes we have to talk without a tamer interrupting the discussion.”
“You know, that’s absolutely right.” He smiled broadly. “And you can talk to your heart’s content after I’ve been cleared to take my exam. Not before.”
The Megami shrugged and looked at Eve. “Other than his attitude, do you have anything to report that might give him a negative review?”
Eve shook her head. “No, I don’t. I’d sign off on his scan, but the leagues prefer that the pokegirl not be in his harem.”
The Megami sniffed. “They just don’t understand that we cannot be biased.”
“No, they don’t.”
April gave both of them a cross look. “The longer you kibitz, the greater the chances more tamers are going to show up and see you two being impertinent around a tamer. I don’t need to have to deal with the paperwork that would generate, now do I? Scan him and let him go so you two can chat.”
Eve gave her a thoughtful look. “You’re right. Sister, go ahead and scan him. We can talk at length after his test starts.”
“You don’t have to go into my mind to do this, do you?”
“No, sir, I am not a feeble psychic.” The Megami’s tone was haughty. “Instead of poking around in your brain hoping to find mental snippets to build an impression of your personality, I look at your aura. Within it lies the true tale of your individual self for anyone with the skills to read.” Her eyes flared golden and she looked him up and down carefully. “You have a pronounced tendency towards actions that would skirt the law, but you believe in the greater good and your decisions are geared to help the most people that you can.” The glow died. “Give the attendant your pokedex and she’ll update your record to show that you have been scanned by a celestial pokegirl and have been approved for unrestricted taming.” Her eyes flicked to Eve. “Come find me after he starts his test.”
April took his pokedex and updated his records. “There you go, sir. The common room has been converted into the testing room, so please proceed there for your exam.”
“Thank you.” He looked at his two pokegirls. “Let’s go, ladies.”
Just outside the washrooms, Eve pulled him to a stop. “How did you do that? I scanned your aura when we bonded and that’s not the result I got.”
Scheherazade had remained silent since they’d entered the pokegirl center. “I also didn’t get that result.”
“It’s interesting to know that apparently I can do something similar to my aura that I can do to my mind. While little Miss Bitch was scanning me, I was busy shouting ‘I am neutral good’ in my mind. Apparently that disguised my aura to make me look neutral good.”
Eve snorted. “She’s a bitch because she’s part of the alliance. She’s got that kind of arrogance, especially since she automatically assumed that I was part of it too. I’ll pump her for information on what they know when we chat.”
The Dire Wolf’s ears flicked. “Why is a member of the celestial alliance here? Is she looking for Kerrik?”
Eve shook her head. “She’s a flunky. Being a bureaucracy, the alliance has a lot more flunkies than it has masters. They wander around with their tamer doing work for the leagues and gather intelligence on the goings on around wherever they end up. She may be low enough in the hierarchy that she doesn’t even know the alliance wants him.” A smile flashed. “Or it could be that since she was so arrogant that she didn’t bother to read his tamer entry or ask for his name that she just let a prize that would assure her promotion slip through her dainty fingers.” She glanced in the direction of the lobby counter. “If she had been looking for you, you’d know it by now. Even if she hadn’t identified you, she would have asked if we’d seen anybody she’s looking for.”
“Don’t correct her misconception and don’t ask about me if you don’t have to.”
“I won’t. I like being here with you two.” Her head came around and her voice dropped to a hiss. “Someone is coming.”
Kerrik headed into the common room without another word. The pallets had been removed and replaced with individual tables that held portable workstations. A Shadowcat was seated at a desk near the fireplace. She looked up as they entered and gave them a bored smile. “If you’re here for the tradesman exam, please give me your pokedex and your pokegirls will have to leave or get put up for the duration of the exam.”
Kerrik hurried over and handed his pokedex to the dark pokegirl before returning to where his harem stood in the doorway to the common room as another tamer slipped past them and headed for the Shadowcat. He dropped his voice. “Ladies, I’d like you two to wait somewhere else. I’ll contact Scheherazade when I’m done and I’ll wait near the washrooms until you come get me.”
The Dire Wolf eyed him briefly and nodded. “Eve will see what the Megami knows and I’ll return to the cave to standby as backup if there’s a problem.” She flicked an ear at the blue haired pokegirl. “Eve, if you get done before he’s finished, come to me. I’ll want briefed on what you found out. It’s also strategically advantageous since you’re not delta bonded to Kerrik and I am, so I’ll have a better idea of whether or not we’ll be needed than you would.”
Eve nodded. “Do you know the spell for sending other magic pokegirls a summons so you can order them to come to your presence?”
“No.”
“I’ll teach it to you when we have an hour.”
Kerrik looked from one to the other. “I don’t suppose either of you knows the spell that temporarily creates a delta bond?”
“I’ve never heard about one that does that.”
Scheherazade frowned. “I didn’t know that one existed.”
“I hoped Eve had learned it at school. It’s a Wolf family spell. I figured they’d keep it a secret, but I’d still had some hope. Oh, well.”
“Spilt milk, boohoo and life goes on?”
He smiled slightly. “I tend to skip the boohoo part. It’s not mandatory. The test is scheduled to start at nine and run for three hours. I’ll contact you if I finish early. Now be about your business, ladies.”
***
Kerrik rubbed his eyes with one hand and leaned back in his chair as he raised the other into the air over his head. The Megami had settled into an empty chair right after the test had begun and was nose deep in a trade paperback sized comic book. The cover portrayed a man who looked like a cross between a tamer and Cú Chulainn, one of the heroes of Ireland. He held a glowing sword in one hand and a pokeball in the other. However, Kerrik did think that if a man wore a kilt that short he’d either catch his death of cold or get screwed to death by ferals. Shaking his head at the idea of comic book romance novels for pokegirls who were only marginally literate, he looked around for the Shadowcat. He’d looked up from time to time during the test and she was very serious about her proctoring duties.
She was already headed for his desk. She had the knack of keeping her voice low, but making it perfectly understandable. “What is it, tamer?”
“I’m finished. What am I supposed to do now?”
Her ears rotated to point at him and came alert. “Finished? The test has only been going on for two hours.”
“Yes, and I’m done.” He carefully kept his tone humble and polite. “I’ve always been a fast test taker.”
“If you’re sure that you’re done, I’ll take your computer and you may leave. Your results will be tabulated with everyone else’s and posted an hour after the test is finished.”
“Thanks. I’ll check back then.” He rose and headed for the doorway, picking up his shotgun from where he’d been told to put it and slinging it back over his shoulder. He wore it slung muzzle down and checked the safety automatically as he pictured his maharani in his mind. Scheherazade, I’m done with my test, but I won’t get my results until thirteen hundred hours. Come get me.
We’ll be there in two minutes.
I’ll be taking a leak.
When Kerrik came out of the washroom, Scheherazade and Eve were waiting for him. “I want to stop by and say hi to April before her shift ends. After that we’ll wait around for the results and do the status change before going hunting. It really involves changing some data in an electronic file, but somehow governments always manage to involve real paper somewhere in the process.”
They headed into the lobby. April was straightening some racks of data chips that tamers could scan with their pokedexes to download the information on them. Most were of maps and pamphlets from various places hoping to entice tamers to go there to spend money, but others were research facilities looking for guinea pigs to test equipment or, worse, new potion ideas. She looked over her shoulder and her face lit up when she saw them. Then she glanced at the clock and frowned. “You’re out early. Did something happen?”
“I take multiple choice tests quickly and the essay questions were easy. I’m pretty sure I passed.” He gestured at his ladies. “This is Eve and the furry lass is Scheherazade and my maha, um my alpha. Ladies, this is April.”
April turned around. “I remember Eve coming here and asking questions about you. Her name was something else then.”
Eve made a face. “It was Danielle. Kerrik changed it when I joined the harem.”
The Ingénue blinked. “That’s not normally done to Megami.”
“I know. I wasn’t too happy about it when it happened, but neither of them will call me Danielle, so I don’t have much choice.”
“You’re not going to change my name, are you?”
Kerrik grinned. “No, April, I don’t have any plans to change your name. Eve’s name got changed because of the circumstances surrounding how she joined the harem. It was the nicest of the names I considered.”
Eve frowned. “There were worse ones?”
“I seriously thought about calling you Axis Sally, but I’d have to explain the historical reference every time I introduced you. And just in the event that my first impression of you was incorrect, Eve is a beautiful name for a beautiful woman, which you happen to be.”
The green in the Megami’s eyes glowed slightly for a heartbeat. “I’m glad that you didn’t. I’m not a propagandist for anyone, much less the Nazis.”
He nodded, carefully filing away the knowledge that at least his Megami could consciously access the Cosmic Awareness. “I know. That’s why I picked Eve.”
The door to the lobby opened behind Kerrik and he heard people enter the room. April looked past him. “Welcome, Deputy Colleen. Can I help you and your associates?”
A male voice came from over his shoulder. “I am Oliver Duncan and I’m with the BLSF’s investigative unit. I’m looking for a tamer by the name of Kerrik Wolf. He’s supposed to be taking the tradesman’s exam right now.”
April’s eyes flicked to Kerrik’s and he saw panic in them as she weighed her options. Before she could say anything, he began to turn around. “I’m Kerrik Wolf.” Scheherazade, if they’re here to arrest me, you are to take Eve and teleport out. You can track me through the delta bond and I can escape if it becomes necessary, but only if you two are free. This is an order. “I finished my test early.”
I have informed Eve and we understand and will obey.
Kerrik finished turning around and time seemed to slow as his mind processed what his eyes told it. He saw Colleen and a Growlie were both wearing a cord around their necks that suspended a badge between their breasts. Pistols rode high on their hips on the same belt that held handcuffs and the other tools of their trade as members of the law enforcement in Dundalk. In front of them was a blood red haired Dark Elf in a suit. A bulge under her left armpit hinted that she was also armed. Next to the Dark Elf was a slender man. He was also in a suit, and it nearly matched the Dark Elf’s in almost screaming that they were mid level operatives in the Blue League government. He, too, had a bulge under his arm. Oliver’s eyes widened as Kerrik’s met them and his arm shot up to point at him as the shotgun slid off of Kerrik’s shoulder and into his hands. The air felt suddenly oppressive as he whipped the muzzle up with one hand while the other went to his belt as Oliver shouted. “Take him!” Each pokegirl in the room froze as her mind tried to comprehend the compulsion to obey the command that suddenly gripped it.
In the enclosed space of the lobby, the blast of the shotgun was almost a physical force that grabbed at everyone in the room. The rifled slug shredded the heart of the man and punched out his back, through the wall and whined off in the distance. Kerrik couldn’t hope to control the recoil one handed and instead let it raise the muzzle an inch and stroked the trigger again just as the bolt cycled home. This round slammed through the man’s throat and spine as he tried to yell something. Kerrik flicked the safety with his thumb and let the shotgun go as he tossed the item he’d pulled from his belt at the man He then clasped his hands on top of his head and knelt as the deputies and the other BLSF agent again froze at the sudden violence. His mind screamed at the Dire Wolf. Run!
Scheherazade touched Eve’s arm and they vanished as hands grabbed Kerrik and slammed him face first on the floor. He grunted in pain as his arms were jerked down and he was quickly handcuffed. Colleen jerked him to his feet and gave him a furious glare. “What the hell did you do that for? You just murdered an official of the Blue League and with a gun I gave you a fucking permit for!”
“If you’ll look, you’ll see that Oliver is a she, she’s a pokegirl and she’s in the pokeball I threw at her. She’ll need healed before being released and you’ll only want to do that when you’ve got her someplace very secure and there’s a teleport block in place so she can’t run away. She’s a member of a foreign government that is plotting the overthrow of the Blue League.” He twisted his head to look at the Dark Elf. “The word is Sanctuary. I can’t say anything else because I know for a fact that not everyone in this room has Omega level clearance and that’s not even if I include everyone staring at us from the hallway.” His lips twisted in a quirky smile at the Dark Elf. “I know I don’t. I think I have delta level clearance.”
Colleen’s head whipped around to glare at the Shadowcat, the Megami and the tamers who had been taking the tradesman’s exam all peering at them from the imagined safety of the hall. She spoke firmly in the tradition of police from the beginning of time. “Everything is under control here, citizens. Please return to your exam and leave this to the professionals.”
Suddenly the hallway was empty.
The Dark Elf’s eyes were wide as she stared from the pokeball that rested on the floor to Kerrik. “Are you saying that Oliver is a,” her mouth shut with an audible click as she looked around the room. “Deputy, please take this man to the jail and put him in one of your cells. At this point I am detaining him under my authority as an agent of the Blue League, but he is not a prisoner and is to be treated well.” She picked up the pokeball cautiously, like it was a serpent. “Attendant, I’ll need to use your healing facilities, but I have to be alone when I do so.”
“Her name is April,” Colleen growled softly, “just like it says on her nametag.”
The Dark Elf nodded. “April, then.” She turned to Kerrik. “Where did your pokegirls go?” He merely looked at her impassively until she sighed. “They are currently fleeing lawful detainment and are fugitives.”
“If I am not under arrest, then they aren’t fugitives from anything. If I am, putting them into the Blue League’s supposedly tender mercies is not what I would consider as upholding my responsibilities to take care of my pokegirls.”
Her voice remained even, but there was an edge to it that hadn’t been there before. “The League would not allow your pokegirls to come to harm. Even hinting something like that is ludicrous.”
Kerrik snorted. “Several years ago a tamer named Devon Harris was detained by the Glasgow police for being a member of Team Viper. By the time it had been determined that he was completely innocent of this accusation, his pokegirls had been put up for adoption and his Mini-top had been given to a tamer who promptly ran her through a level five conditioning cycle. Local law enforcement can be exemplary, but I wouldn’t trust the Blue League to take care of my dirty socks. You can verify the events if you want. Devon is currently running the Harris Conservatory in Scotland.”
She gave him a speculative look. “I think I will. Deputy Colleen, please take him away.”
Colleen leaned down so her face was directly in front of his. “If you fight me, Sandra and I will just pick you up and carry you to jail.”
“While being held by such attractive women does hold some appeal, I won’t fight you.”
Colleen motioned to Sandy and the Growlie picked up his shotgun. She blinked. “The safety is already on.”
Colleen marched Kerrik outside and down the street to the jail. “Is this really security level Omega?”
“Yes, it is. If I tell you anything about it, you might be disappeared. You’d probably be L5’ved at best and pokepowered at worst. Hell, I’m probably in danger for knowing what I know.”
The Denmother shuddered. “Then don’t tell me about it. I’ve got daughters to take care of.” She opened a cell door and gently shoved him into it. “Turn around and put your hands through the door so I can remove your cuffs.”
He obeyed the order and chuckled while she was unlocking the handcuffs. “I can appreciate your professionalism since I’m about as dangerous to you as a fly.”
“The pokegirl you shot wouldn’t say that. You’re quick and the fact that you had the presence of mind to catch her in a pokeball while shooting her twice tells me that you are someone to keep a close eye on while in my jail.” She pushed him forward gently and shut the door. “Or are you angling to say pretty things and hope I’ve been away from the sheriff long enough to fall for your words?”
“Deputy Colleen, I wouldn’t dream of trying to get you in my harem. My life on the road is no place for children.”
“There’s always Sandy.” She gestured at the Growlie, who laughed.
“Without trying to be insulting about her potential usefulness with my job, Sandy looks like she’s happy here and taking her away from a job she loves would be wrong.”
Sandy stopped laughing. “You sound like you mean that.”
“I do mean it. I don’t think like a tamer and I have no intention of learning how to.”
“You sound like a parity idealist.”
“I’m not an idealist. I’m a cynic. Everybody is out for themselves and that’s perfectly fine. I can work with that attitude since I understand what motivates people.”
“What about pokegirls?”
“They’re not any different from anyone else. Pokegirls do what they think is necessary to get what’s important to them, be it extra tamings, time with their tamer, a higher rank in the hierarchy or whatever.” He glanced at the badge on Sandy’s chest. “Or possibly a promotion within the police department in which they work, if they’re ambitious. If they’re not, they try to find ways to make sure other people get the tough jobs.”
Colleen began chuckling. “He just described Paula almost exactly.” Kerrik raised an eyebrow. “She wants my job in the department and my place as alpha. She’s not concerned about how she gets it, either, not as long as it doesn’t piss Bertram off.”
The door opened and the Dark Elf came in. She looked at Kerrik in his cell and then turned to Colleen. “I want to talk to him alone.”
The Denmother’s ears went back. “That’s against our policy. One of us has to be present at all times, but especially when someone is interrogating a prisoner.”
“He’s not a prisoner. I just want to be able to get my hands on him if I need to.”
Kerrik frowned. “Am I being charged with something?”
“No.”
“Do you have reasonable grounds to believe that my being held without being charged is necessary to secure or preserve evidence relating to an offense for which I am under arrest or to obtain such evidence by questioning me?”
“I already said you’re not under arrest.”
“I see. Deputy Colleen, I am being illegally detained against my will in one of your cells by that Dark Elf. Please arrest that woman for kidnapping. If I am released immediately, I will not name you and Sandy as conspirators in the charges.”
The Denmother suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Ma’am, he’s just quoted the requirements for keeping someone without charging them and you’ve authenticated that his presence here does not satisfy those requirements. He’s being illegally held.”
“He shot a league officer, for heaven’s sake.”
“I shot a pokegirl masquerading as a human league officer. I should get a reward.”
The Dark Elf leveled a finger at him. “You shut up!”
“I’ll just add violation of my right to free speech to those charges for illegal arrest. I wonder how much my percentage of the settlement the town will have to pay will be after the lawyer takes his cut.”
“I told you to shut up!”
“Or maybe I can sue both the town and the Blue League,” he said in a musing tone. “That might be considered double dipping, but the league has much deeper pockets. On the other hand, the town would like the stink I’d make a lot less, so they’d pay faster.”
The Dark Elf growled in the back of her throat and stopped what she was going to say with an obvious effort. “You have information that is vital to the Blue League, sir.” The last word seemed to stick in her throat. “I don’t know the right questions to ask, and there is concern that the information you possess might be lost if you leave and are killed. Why don’t you do your patriotic duty and stay where we can find you?”
“I might be willing to be more patriotic if I wasn’t in Dundalk’s gaol.”
“If I have you released, will you cooperate?”
“What is the sound of one hand clapping?”
She started. “What?”
He grinned. “I just wanted to rattle your cage, agent. What is your name?”
“My name is Agent Dominique of the BLSF. Will you cooperate if I have you released?”
“That depends on what cooperation is expected and what the compensation is. If someone expects me to cough up a kidney it’s going to be pricey.”
“I don’t think I need your kidney.”
“Let me see your badge. I don’t even have proof that you’re really a BLSF agent.”
“Are you always this frustrating?”
“Nope. You got lucky and caught me on a good day. Usually I’m a lot worse than this.” She pulled a wallet from her pocket and waved it at him. “All right, you let me see your badge. Now let me read the damned thing.”
Dominique rolled her eyes as Colleen and Sandy tried to muffle their laughter. She moved to within a few feet of the door and held the badge at arm’s length. “There.”
Kerrik scanned the badge and looked up. “You’re a Pendragon. Are you a knight or a page? Probably you’re a page since you’re a pokegirl, but pages aren’t supposed to operate outside the stronghold without a knight in attendance. Only knights operate alone, although you might have been given a dispensation from Marcus.”
The Dark Elf’s mouth dropped and she pulled it shut with an obvious effort. “What do you know about the Order?”
He gave her a sly smile. “I know about Ygerna and Eoghan.” His eyes flicked at Colleen. “Shall I continue for the benefit of the recording equipment? The Blue League would probably love to know about the inner workings of the Order.”
“No!”
“I certainly hope I don’t talk in my sleep.”
“Do not make idle threats about the Order’s secrets.”
“I can’t help it. Someone had me imprisoned for no reason.”
“Considering your situation, you certainly are flippant.”
Kerrik’s eyes chilled. “I was captured by Limbec Pirates and their you-know- fucking-well-who buddies and tortured by them. I was almost murdered by a Psi-Dyke and the only reason I didn’t die was because they got medical aid to me quickly enough to mend my heart before the brain gave up from lack of oxygen. Then they tortured me some more before I escaped. That kind of experience burned out my fear of words, Agent Dominique. This cell happens to be a damned sight cozier than my accommodations on the pirate vessel and it doesn’t frighten me a single fucking bit, so if your goal was to scare me it has failed miserably. You can kill me and I suppose if you were feeling especially vindictive you could put me in project Genesis.” Her eyes widened in shock. “But if you think you can intimidate me by locking me up in here, you are very much mistaken and we are done.”
“Done?”
“I don’t have anything else to say to you.” He moved over to the bunk built into the wall and settled down on it He turned to stare at the ceiling for a moment before shifting around so he could look at her outside his cell.
“Well, I’m not done talking to you, Mr. Wolf.”
“That’s good. I don’t have television here, so try to be entertaining or else I might just fall asleep. I suppose you could try stripping while you talk, like those Russian weather girls do. That’ll probably keep my attention, although I might not hear a word you’re saying.”
Sandy burst out laughing and had to step outside to regain her equilibrium. Dominique gritted her teeth. “I suppose you think you’re funny.”
He shrugged. “Humor is one of my defenses against the world. As long as it amuses me, I don’t care what anyone else’s response is.” He propped himself up. “Unless you cut me loose, it’s unlikely that the deputies will be willing to turn off the recorders and give you the privacy you want for our little chat.”
Dominique looked at Colleen, who shrugged. “You work for the league. I work for my tamer, who happens to be the sheriff. His instructions about prisoners were very detailed and leave me no wriggle room even if I were willing to try to disobey him for you. You can speak to him about it, but he’s on patrol and won’t be back for another three days or so.”
The Dark Elf sighed. “Mr. Wolf, will you promise me that if I have you released, you’ll answer my questions?”
“Does that offer include lunch, and can my harem be present for the discussion?”
“Lunch? Why not? However, I’d prefer that your harem not be there.”
“I’ll just tell them what we talked about, but if you’re insistent, I can be flexible about the conditions.”
“You can’t tell them a thing!”
“Now we’ve hit a snag. You can’t give me orders.” He smiled slightly. “Well, that’s not true. You can give me all the orders you’d like to. I just don’t have to obey them.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I can have your tamer status revoked if you don’t comply.”
“That’s true enough. Fine, I’ll behave. I won’t tell my harem.”
“Are you lying to me?”
“No,” he replied instantly. “I am not lying to you.”
You don’t have to tell us since I can get the information directly from your mind or just watch what happens through your eyes.
There is that, but as long as I don’t tell you or Eve, I am not lying about it.
Dominique seemed to be having some kind of internal debate before she turned to Colleen. “Let him out.”
Without a word, the Denmother got out of her chair and headed for the cell. She unlocked it and pulled the door open. “You’re free to go, Mr. Wolf.”
“Thank you Deputy Colleen, but there’s still one thing.” Kerrik didn’t move. “Agent, please tell the deputy here that what I did was an aid to the Blue League. I have to live in this town and if you let everyone think I’m some kind of loose cannon who shoots people on impulse, my life here is going to be hell.”
Dominique nodded. “That’s fair enough. Deputy Colleen, Mr. Wolf’s actions were in the best interests of the Blue League. He has performed a great service to the league, and although he’ll never get public recognition for it, he took down a spy for someone just as dangerous as Team Viper ever was.”
Colleen’s eyes went wide. “I see. Is this classified?”
“He was seen by too many witnesses, so no. Just spread the word around quietly, if you would. The Blue League doesn’t want this enemy getting word of what happened here any faster than necessary, and an advert in the paper just might tip them off sooner than we’d like.”
The Denmother nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Wolf. Let me get your gear in case you have to shoot another of our enemies.”
A few minutes later he and Dominique were ensconced in a booth along the back wall of the local pub. After they had ordered their food and a couple of pints of beer, the Dark Elf murmured a spell and the noise around them dropped to whispers. She wasted no time in getting started. “How did you know that Oliver was a Sanctuary Goth? She fooled everyone with her magic.”
Kerrik was not going to admit he could identify pokegirls on sight. He had no plans to wander around the Blue League for the next couple of years looking at every person in the government so the league could conduct a purge. That kind of activity had a very high chance of getting him killed and so was to be avoided if possible. So he lied. “She was involved in my interrogation on the Limbec Pirate ship. I think she was evolved into a Goth from a Drag King, which would give her innate abilities to make everyone think she was male.”
“Why is Sanctuary looking for you so desperately?”
He hesitated and then hedged. “They pulled me here from another dimension. They seem to think I, and possibly some other people, could have some ability to rewrite reality. They’d like to control this ability, if it exists, and impose their rule on the whole world. Needless to say, I didn’t find their company very hospitable so I left.”
“How?”
“Scheherazade is my Foxxsea and some of them can teleport. She was being held prisoner on the pirate ship and I freed her so she could free us both. She brought us to the Blue League.”
“When did the Megami enter the picture?”
Kerrik took refuge in the standard response. It was probably a test question of some sort. “Eve? She’s always been around.”
“Can you control reality like they think?”
“I couldn’t at home and I haven’t shown any abilities in that direction since I arrived. The only interesting power I seem to have is I can’t be psychically scanned. I don’t know how I do it and I can’t make it into a weapon, but it’s a nice defensive ability. That and sometimes I know things.”
“Things like knowing about Marcus, Ygerna and Eoghan? How do you know these things?”
“That’s kind of complicated and I don’t want to discuss it right now.”
“You said you’d answer my questions. Are you reneging on our agreement?”
“I never said the answers would satisfy you. I’m being cooperative except on this point because I don’t want Pendragon enforcers dropping by to turn me into recyclable material because Marcus thinks I’m a threat. Since I can’t be scanned, I can’t give up their secrets, so it’s best if Marcus thinks I’m an unknown rather than say something that confirms his suspicions. We both know you are going to report to him, since your loyalties are at best divided between the league and the Order. If you were human female, my knowledge would be able to get you a very nice promotion, but since you’re a pokegirl it would just get you screwed over again. If you were human and male, the promotion would be even better than if you were a woman, but that goes without saying, and I don’t see any signs of you having a tamer who could benefit from you knowing what I do.” He got a curious look. “How long have you been in the Order?”
“I was captured from a tamer and given to a knight almost two centuries ago. After he died, I was made an independent operative by the queen.” Crimson eyes met his. “To answer your earlier question, I’m a page. Pokegirls still can’t be knights. Or didn’t you already know that?”
He shrugged. “Knowing things does not mean I know everything.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s all the answer you’ll get right now.” He smiled suddenly. “And here comes lunch.”
“I need you to stay around here so I can find you if I have more questions.”
He shook his head as he picked up his sandwich. “I am living on threads and prayer right now as it is. I don’t have the funds to stick around Dundalk even if I had the desire. If you want to talk to me, you send me a message and we’ll work something out.”
“I could make sure you had the money you needed.”
“Let’s see. Take the League’s shilling and be their puppet or be a hunter and take my chances with ferals. Frankly, the ferals are probably less dangerous. When you contact me, I’ll try to expedite meeting with you. Honest.”
She nodded. “If that’s the best I can get, then I’ll take it.”
Kerrik blinked as he realized someone was hurrying across the room towards them. “It seems we have company.”
Dominique turned to look. “It’s the attendant from the center. April.”
The Ingénue stopped at their table. “Tamer Wolf, I have been sent to bring you back to the pokegirl center. There is a discrepancy with your exam.”
He looked at his lunch sadly. “Well, there goes that. Thanks anyways, Agent Dominique. I hope you have a nice day.”
She gave him a startled look. “You too, Mr. Wolf.”
April led him outside and turned towards the pokegirl center. “Colleen told me you did something good when you shot that spy. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I’d have warned you if I’d had the chance. I was too busy trying to make sure you didn’t lie to protect me. Whatever the league might want with me isn’t worth you losing your job.”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt. “You were worried about me?”
“Whether we end up together or not, you’re my friend, April. I’ve got exactly three of those here, so I’m a bit possessive about their well being.”
“Nobody has been worried about me since Edward died. I don’t know what to say, except thank you for caring.”
“You don’t need to thank me. You’ve been a good friend for me and you deserve it.”
April glanced at him and looked up the street. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, but the problem is that you went and got another perfect score on the tradesman’s test. They’re busy checking right now to make sure you didn’t have any magical aid and that your test computer wasn’t hacked.” She searched his eyes for a moment.
“It wasn’t. I just answered the questions like I thought best. Will I have to take the test again?”
April relaxed at his words. “You might. It might be easier for them to just deny your application.”
“There’s a Megami there who can tell if I cheated. If they try to deny my application, I’ll file a protest.” He snorted. “Not that it would do any good. I need to talk to her before they make a final decision.”
“Her name is Nina. The Shadowcat is Indira.” She yawned. “I’m going to go home and get some sleep. Drop by when you get a chance and tell me how it came out.”
“Thanks. I will.” He gave April a quick hug before he rushed down the street and into the center.
Cheryl looked up as he burst through the door. “Did April find you?”
“Yes. Where is Nina?”
“Both she and Indira are still in the common room. Good luck.”
“Thanks.” He headed for the common room. When he came in, both pokegirls looked up. “Before anyone says anything, Nina, please turn on your lie detecting ability.”
The Megami nodded. “It’s on.”
“Nobody helped me take my exam. I have not taken this test before, nor has anyone given me answers to the questions. I did not cheat or in any other way manipulate this test to receive the score I received. I took the test fairly and with only my own abilities and I earned the score I got.”
The Shadowcat turned her head to watch the Megami, who nodded. “He is telling the truth.”
“As far as he knows,” Indira grunted sourly.
“Miss Indira, unless my computer, which has no wireless capability, was hacked by some super Videogirl who doesn’t need to use data streams to move around, the only other way I could have had aid and not known it would have been if, during the exam, I had been possessed. My alpha would know if that had happened since we happen to be delta bonded and she’s not an idiot.”
“Was she in her pokeball while you were taking the exam?”
“No, she wasn’t. She was at our camp, cutting firewood. Shall I summon her?”
Nina nodded. “Please do.”
Scheherazade, please teleport outside the pokegirl center again and come to the common room. I managed to get a perfect score on the tradesman exam and they’d like to question you and Eve about whether or not I was possessed during the exam.
It’s never dull with you, Kerrik. We’ll be there in a moment.
“She’s on her way.”
A moment later Scheherazade and Eve entered the room. Eve stopped next to Kerrik while the Dire Wolf moved slightly in front of him. “Is there a problem?” Tension instantly ratcheted up around them.
Kerrik put his hand on Scheherazade’s shoulder. “There isn’t going to be a fight, so get out my way. These ladies merely want to know if I was possessed during the exam, since they’ve pretty much exhausted every other avenue by which I might have cheated.”
Eve shook her head. “He didn’t cheat and he wasn’t possessed. He studied his ass off, both of the knowledge required as well as how the tests are put together. Old exams are available for study. He eventually got to the point where he could write the tests.”
Nina nodded. “That’s good enough for me. Indira, too.”
The Shadowcat’s ears went back. “Look, you don’t speak for me.”
“I outrank you, even though I am not our alpha. Todd put me in charge for this and so I have the final decision. He got a perfect score because he’s just that good, and we’ll approve his status change.” Nina gave her a crafty look. “We can’t find any evidence of cheating and if, after that, he is failed and files a protest, you’ll be the one doing all the paperwork for it and you’ll be by yourself. I have better things to do.”
Indira growled softly. “Janice put you over me. I accept your ruling.” She looked at Kerrik. “I welcome you to the ranks of the tradesmen, Master Wolf.” She turned around and began loading the test computers into a big sack.
“There you are.” It was Dominique. She looked furious about something. “I’m glad you didn’t leave on me.”
Kerrik’s eyebrows went up when she turned her angry gaze on him. “Whatever you’re pissed about, it’s not my fault and you’re not going to take it out on me.”
“Actually, Mr. Wolf, the blame for this can be laid precisely at your doorstep.” She scowled at him. “The Blue League has decided that you are way too valuable to allow to go traipsing off into the wilderness. It also acknowledges that you have to make a living somehow and since you’re a pokegirl hunter, you’ll be hunting pokegirls.” Her scowl deepened. “So what they did was order me to go with you. I hate the wilderness and now I get to follow you around in it. This is entirely your fault.” She folded her arms. “So when do we leave?”