Into the Fire
Twenty Nine
The High Council of Sanctuary building was a massive construction that was heavily decorated with Greek columns and arches. Smaller buildings in an identical style were scattered around it across the grounds. Iain made a face as he looked around. “I have never liked postmodern architecture. It’s either that or Greek revival, which I also dislike.” He grinned. “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t live here.”
The closest arrival pad was only a few miles away and they’d walked after Montsho had gotten directions, stopping half a block away to gawk at the building near a group of touristy looking pokegirls who were doing the same thing.
Dominique was looking the building over while employing a spell she’d cast before they arrived. “It’s got a phased teleport block that extends out around the entire complex. Anyone trying to teleport into the area without the phase key will find themselves shunted to a different destination, more than likely a secure facility where anyone arriving gets to have a very unpleasant conversation with someone who was born without a sense of humor.” She turned to Iain. “The key can be something physical or it can be something like a tattoo or other magical sigil. Creating a key for us to use will be difficult even if I get one to examine. I’d have to see the spells that are used to create the keys.”
Iain nodded. “Can you make the key useless?”
“What do you mean?”
“We can always get in with Irena’s badge. Can you make it so the phase teleport block loses the phase and therefore blocks all teleport attempts so nobody can escape while we’re doing something nefarious? That means no diverting them, either. They either don’t go anywhere or they come out where they started from. Can you do that?”
“You know, most people would want to crack the key instead of neutralize it. I don’t think anyone has tried to do that before.” She stared at him for a second and then grinned. “You know how much I love a challenge. I’ll take as many measurements as I can and get on it as soon as we return home.”
Eve was watching their surroundings. “We need to get moving. Mistress, let’s go.”
A pair of Dameosaurs wearing crisp uniforms with brass on them that had been polished until it glowed in the sunlight were standing sentry duty in front of the double doors. Irena held out her badge. “I am Captain Irena and I am here at the orders of Councilor Kirabo to meet with her. I haven’t been here before and I’ll need a guide to the councilor’s chambers.”
One of the Dameosaurs looked closely at the badge. “Go inside and turn left to get to the secretary’s desk. She’ll sign you in and get you a guide to the councilor’s chambers.”
“Thank you.”
Just inside the door was an antechamber. To their immediate left was a huge desk that would have been at home in an executive office on Iain’s home world. Across the antechamber from them was a pair of massive doors, each fifteen feet tall and eight feet wide.
The secretary behind the desk was a Sanctuary Goth who looked over the group with an amused smile before focusing on Irena. “Good morning, mistress. How can I help you?”
Irena produced her badge again. “I am Captain Irena and I was ordered by Councilor Kirabo to meet with her immediately.”
The secretary checked her computer. “I don’t have any information on this, captain. You’ll have to wait here while I find out what’s going on. By the way, you can only have one escort here.” Her eyes swept the group. “Not counting your pet, I mean, since they’re not really all that dangerous. He can stay.”
Irena nodded. “I’ll keep my alpha out.” She quickly put the others into their pokeballs. When she turned back, the secretary was looking at her with an expression of disgust. “What?”
“Did you just use pokeballs on them?” The Sanctuary Goth shook her head slowly. “That’s just so, so human.”
Irena’s eyes narrowed. “They’re used to it and I’m not going to make them wait outside. Besides, it’s not against the law and it makes healing them much easier.”
“No, but it’s just rude.”
Eve tapped the desk top with a fingernail. “Excuse me for interrupting, mistress, but aren’t you supposed to be contacting the councilor for my captain?” Her words were polite but her tone suggested that bad things were about to start happening to a particular Sanctuary Goth secretary if she didn’t focus on her job.
“Uh, yeah. Please sit down while I see what’s going on.” The Sanctuary Goth picked up an old fashioned crank telephone and nodded towards some soft looking chairs as she turned the crank with her free hand.
For the next half hour they watched people come and go. Most of them just showed the Sanctuary Goth their badge and were admitted after she checked a list and waved them on. Finally a Dameosaur came through the massive doors and stopped at the desk. “I am here to escort Councilor Kirabo’s visitors to her offices. From now on you are to give the captain and her pet unrestricted access. I’ll make sure the access list gets updated, young mistress.”
“Please do,” the Sanctuary Goth said curtly. “They’re over there.”
The Dameosaur turned to face them and bowed slightly. “Captain Irena, Sergeant Eve, Pet Drummond, I am Peony and I will be your escort to the councilor’s chambers. Please come with me.”
“Thank you.” They followed the Dameosaur down some hallways until she led them into an expensively decorated suite. “The council is in session and the councilor is in the main hall right now, so please sit and wait. Do you require any refreshments?”
“Thank you, but no.”
Peony nodded. “I should tell you that I am the councilor’s personal assistant. May I ask why you didn’t make an appointment to meet with her?”
“Do you know who I am?”
“I do, captain. I am the person who sent you the message to report to my mistress.”
“Then you know we didn’t have a way to reply to it. After getting your message, we came as soon as we could.” Irena smiled apologetically. “I thought that being too eager to obey the councilor’s instructions was better than not appearing eager enough.”
Peony smiled back. “Since you now happen to be in the service of Councilor Kirabo, that is very true, captain. Unfortunately your eagerness also means that since we didn’t know you were coming today, you don’t have an appointment and you’re probably in for a long wait. The councilor shouldn’t return until the council suspends for the day and that’s usually at sunset. There’s nothing pressing on the agenda, so the session shouldn’t run longer than that.”
“Could we take a tour of the building while we wait?”
Peony shook her head. “No. There are no tours here because of security concerns.”
Irena sighed. “Then I guess we’ll wait. I hope you don’t mind if we nap.”
The Dameosaur laughed. “No, I don’t mind at all.”
Eve smirked. “I’ve got a deck of cards.” She held them up and looked around hopefully.
Iain shook his head. “Count me out. I get my ass handed to me whenever we play. I may be a slow learner sometimes, but I’m not that slow.”
Eve gave Peony a smile. “What about you?”
The Dameosaur gave the cards a wistful look. “I wish I could join you, but I’ve got work to do.”
“I guess it’s just me and the mistress.” She opened the pack. “Unless you don’t want to play either. Do you, mistress?”
Irena grinned. “You are going down. Since it’s just the two of us, the game is cribbage.”
“That works for me, mistress.”
Anticipating the coming carnage, Iain moved to a different chair and pulled out his pokedex to do some reading.
***
Councilor Kirabo paused outside her door to her offices when she heard the angry growl inside and recognized Peony’s voice. Her guard slipped between her and the door. “Mistress, I need to investigate before you go in.” Without waiting for her reply the Dameosaur entered her office. She was back an instant later, a wide grin on her face. “It’s safe, mistress.”
Kirabo stepped past the door and stopped to take in the scene. After watching them play for hour after frustrating hour, Peony had finally given in and joined the card game. Now she, Eve and Irena were glaring at each other over their cards. “Evening, councilor.”
The Sanctuary Goth jumped at the sound of the voice next to her and turned to see Iain had moved a chair against the wall to be right beside the door. “Austin Drummond. Why are you over here?”
“I can’t leave the room and things were getting a bit feisty even before Peony started playing. As you know, pokegirls are very competitive and I’m just a bit too fragile to be next to them when they get really excited.”
She chuckled. “What are they playing?”
“They wanted to play spades, but since they don’t have four people they’re playing pinochle after relieving me of my solitaire deck.”
“You could be their fourth person.”
“Sorry, I like to win once in a while. Team games make that a little easier, but with all due respect I didn’t know how Peony took losing. Now that I’ve seen her temper when she loses, I was smart to move here and refuse to play. She’s not vicious or anything, but she tends to react without thinking about the people around her and an accidental arm wave on her part could crack my skull.”
Kirabo returned her attention to the game. “I’m not familiar with pinochle.”
“It requires a special deck, but other than that it’s a trick taking game similar to whist or spades. There’s even a variant that uses bidding for teams.” He put his pokedex in his lap. “May I inquire as to why you summoned my mistress to Sanctuary?”
“In due time, Mr. Drummond.” Kirabo headed for the coffee table where the game was in progress. “Are you winning, Peony?”
The Dameosaur jumped in her seat. “Mistress! I didn’t see you come in!”
“You were wrapped up in your game,” the older Sanctuary Goth said in a kindly tone. “Are you winning?”
Peony’s head drooped. “No, mistress.”
“Then end the game before you lose and get me a drink.”
“Yes, mistress.” Peony tossed her cards down with a relieved look. “You heard my mistress. I’ll just have to beat you later.”
“Captain Irena, you and your party stay here. I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”
“Yes, councilor.” Irena watched as Kirabo swept into her private office, followed by Peony and her Dameosaur guard. Eve separated the two decks and put them away in her pack.
Ten minutes later Peony came out. “Captain, the councilor will see you now.”
“Thank you, Peony. I hope we didn’t get you in trouble with your mistress.”
The Dameosaur smiled briefly. “You didn’t. She wants me to teach her how to play pinochle later.”
Kirabo’s office was decorated in earth tones and items from various leagues hung from the walls and on shelving. Behind her desk, the Sanctuary Goth leaned back in her chair and waved Irena to a comfortable looking couch. “Please sit, captain. Earlier, your pet asked me why I summoned you to me. It’s an interesting question to hear from him, considering that you were supposed to report your progress to me and I have yet to hear anything from you.”
Iain went very still as Irena frowned. “Councilor, since the first report on Kerrik Wolf we have made little progress and I didn’t see a reason to tell you that nothing was happening.”
“I disagree, captain. I want to hear from you at least once in a while.”
Iain glanced at Irena. “May I ask a question, ladies?”
Irena waved him to proceed while Kirabo sipped from her drink. “Austin, I understand that pets from Sanctuary Goths not born here often have much more freedom in which to operate than is sometimes normal here. That’s not fair to the pets here, but that’s the way things are right now. Please, speak.”
“Councilor, I just want to make sure there isn’t a misunderstanding going on here, so I’d like to verify some historical facts. We met and gave you a report on what we’d learned about Kerrik Wolf to that point. You ordered Irena to locate and capture or kill him and we left. Then I recorded and sent you a progress report detailing what we’d found after that.”
Kirabo sat up in her chair, her body language suddenly unhappy. “You did? I received no such report. If you had sent it to me, I would have received it.” She began to look angry. “Lying to me has consequences, Irena.” Tension ratcheted up in the room and both Peony and the guard Dameosaur dropped their heads threateningly.
Iain cleared his throat gently. “Councilor, I couldn’t send the report to you. I don’t have a direct email address for you. At Irena’s instructions, I sent the message to her control, Captain Lisa the Amachop.” He started to reach for his pokedex and stopped as the guard growled loudly. “I have the recording I made. It’s still got the original timestamp on it.”
Kirabo watched him with neutral eyes. “Do you? That’s very convenient.”
“Councilor, with all due respect, if I were going to lie to you I would do it from a safe distance.” His eyes flicked towards the two Dameosaurs. “Considering the power you wield, it would be a long distance away indeed. I kept the recording because I’m a paranoid packrat who never deletes messages.”
Kirabo looked at him for several seconds before snorting softly. “I am well aware that paranoia does sometimes have its uses. Show me this message.”
He was still watching the Dameosaurs. “Am I going to get attacked if I go for my pokedex?”
The Sanctuary Goth smiled slightly. “Probably not. Captain Irena, does he usually speak for you?”
Irena shrugged. “I trust my subordinates, including Austin, to do their jobs. He’s proven quite competent and I’m kind of attached to him. Besides, councilor, up to this point I don’t see anything I can add to the discussion except that I was there for Austin’s progress report. In fact, I remember it because I overrode him and insisted he add something to it about a strange new pokegirl he might have seen.”
Iain slowly retrieved his pokedex from his belt and pulled up the message he’d sent earlier. “Here is the message, councilor.”
“Bring me your pokedex, Austin.” Iain came over and handed it to her. She looked at the controls for a moment and made a face before turning back to him. “How do you play the message? I swear every one of these damned things is different.”
Iain pointed at an icon on the touch screen. “Push that for play and press it again to pause.”
Kirabo started the message and Austin’s face appeared in the screen. He gave the time and date and then began speaking. “After receiving some information that Kerrik Wolf was in London, I went there to investigate. Digital records indicated that he’d made some purchases in a shop and when I arrived to question the employees, I discovered that a detective from the Metropolitan Police Department was already there. I observed while he asked the shopkeeper about Kerrik Wolf and then departed. At this time I do not know why the metropolitan police would be interested in Kerrik Wolf or even if the detective, who appeared to be known by the shopkeeper, wasn’t acting on his own initiative or if he is the pet of another agent. His last name was Warrens.”
Austin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Then I retraced the steps of Wolf through several more shops where he made purchases. In any case, the detective was not seen again. It is interesting to note that Wolf has never made extensive purchases using his pokedex before. Considering the accessibility of credit chips along with his rumored wiliness, I must wonder if this is a lure of some kind. If so, the purpose and subject remain a mystery but I will certainly proceed carefully in any future investigations.”
Austin scratched his nose. “Additionally, my sources inside the Blue League government hint that Kerrik Wolf may no longer be working with the government’s forces in rounding up agents of Sanctuary. They’re not sure why, but rumors suggest that there may have been a falling out between Wolf and his handlers or that the league feels it no longer needs his assistance and has sacked him. I will seek further information that can confirm or deny these rumors.”
Irena’s voice appeared on the recording. “Austin, don’t forget the odd report.”
Austin looked irritated for a second and then blanked his face. “Mistress, I’m not sure that’s relevant. It’s nothing but hearsay.”
“I said to include it.”
Austin’s tone sounded like he was humoring her. “Yes mistress.” Then his voice became professional again. “There is a single unsubstantiated report from one of my sources that suggests the league may be using a new kind of pokegirl that they’re trying to keep hidden. This might be important because she was briefly seen working with a Blackguard team involved in the capture of a Sanctuary Goth. This pokegirl scanned as a Dragonqueen, but her physical description differed in several particulars including dark gray hair and full body scaling that was the same all over her body. Her eyes were black and since a Dragonqueen’s eyes match her hair, this is another discrepancy. She also had a white skull pattern in her scales on her head, something I’ve never seen or heard of in a Dragonqueen. The report also suggests that this pokegirl, whatever she is, is resistant to the special powers that Sanctuary Goths possess. And that ends my update. Austin Drummond out.”
Kirabo looked over at Irena. “Captain, you were correct to insist he mention the report. That is not a variant of the Dragonqueen. That is a separate breed of pokegirl and her kind are the sworn foes of the paradise we are trying to bring about for everyone. They are incredibly dangerous and should be avoided if at all possible.”
Irena gave Iain a smug smile. “You heard her, I was right. What do you say?”
Iain looked at the ceiling for a second and took a deep breath before he bowed deeply to Irena. “I was wrong. Mistress Irena, I am sorry for being an idiot and arguing with you over this.”
She waved magnanimously. “It’s ok, you’re forgiven.”
Kirabo handed Iain back the Drummond pokedex. “I was not aware of this report and Captain Lisa will have some questions to answer as to why I didn’t know about it. What have you learned since about Kerrik?”
Irena shrugged. “He’s dropped out of sight, councilor. We think he’s on some kind of extended trek in the wilderness, but we’re confident he’s still in the Blue League. Austin has confirmed that Kerrik has not been working with the Blue League government since that report and they don’t seem to know where he is either. Right now our only option is to wait until he appears again and then move to apprehend him.”
“Mistress?” Peony’s feathers fluffed briefly. “It’s entirely possible that Captain Lisa’s behavior may not be due to incompetence. Perhaps it would be best if you gave Irena my email address so she can send reports to me. She can send me a copy of this report and then we can see if any of your opponents on the council have seen this report that you hadn’t until just now. If they have, it may be time for another purge.”
Kirabo grimaced. “You’re always looking for spies, Peony.”
“I find them fairly regularly, mistress, because they are there. If Lisa is an agent for someone else, we may be able to turn her.”
“Sometimes I envy people like you, Irena.” Kirabo drained her glass. “You only have to worry about real threats, not the political ones I have to deal with. Be glad that’s all you have to deal with.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, councilor.”
Kirabo ran fingers through her hair tiredly. “I want to thank you for reporting so promptly, captain. You’ve given me a lot of information. Peony will give you her email address and in the future you will send her every report that you send to Lisa. Yes, for the time being you will continue to report to Lisa while we investigate what is going on. In fact, sometime in the near future Peony may give you information to send to Captain Lisa as if you’d discovered it. Peony speaks with my voice and you will follow her instructions to the letter.”
“I understand, councilor, and I will obey.”
“Good. Now return to the Blue League and keep hunting for Kerrik.”
“Councilor,” Iain said quietly, “how often do you want my mistress to report to you?”
“That’s an excellent question. I want you to contact Peony when you have something new. If I think it’s been too long, she’ll let you know to report.”
Irena nodded. “Yes councilor.”
Dismissed, they left the building and immediately teleported to the alpha site. Irena reached for her pokeballs just as Dominique, Scheherazade and April released themselves. She smirked and let Montsho out as Eve turned to Iain. “You did record everything, right?”
“I did. The viewpoint will jump around since my dex was loaned to Kirabo at one point, but the audio will be just fine.” He handed the pokedex over. “Brief them at home?”
Eve took his hand. “That sounds good. Let’s rendezvous at the house, ladies.” They vanished.
After arriving, Iain grimaced. “Crap.”
Eve’s head came around as she surveyed the area. “What’s the matter?”
“I didn’t change my appearance back before we came home. Oh, well, no harm done.” He closed his eyes and slowly he changed his appearance back into Iain while the others arrived. “There, all done.”
***
The Seeker felt the pulse of truewizard magic and satisfaction filled it as it turned back to its original heading. From what it could determine, the fledgling had returned to its first location. The Seeker was close to fulfilling Purpose. Its strength was waning, but if nothing else it could fulfill its secondary Purpose and call its master before it ceased to be.
Soon.
***
Vanessa put down her trowel and watched Iain work for a moment. “You’re not bad at this.”
“I like roses, so I learned how to take care of them. I guess it carries over into caring for other plants, too.”
“Well, it’s time for a break. I just found out I need to take a trip.”
“Celestial awareness strikes again?”
She chuckled. “No, I’ve got a spell at my house that warns me if I get any trespassers. According to it, someone will be near my home in about an hour and I need to go chase them off. It’s probably just ferals, but even so they sometimes break something I’d rather they didn’t.”
“Your spell predicts intruders? That’s neat.”
“Thank you. It took a while to get right, but it means I’m hard to surprise at home.”
“I can see where something like that could be very useful. Want help?”
Vanessa smiled with amusement. “I’m going to take a quick shower before I go. Are you offering to help with that?”
He looked thoughtful for a second. “That would probably be a bad idea if you intend for that shower to actually be quick.”
She grinned. “That’s true enough. I’m not really into quickies and neither are you, if given the choice.” She kissed him on the cheek and headed for the front door.
A short time later she appeared on the edge of what she considered her property and looked around while considering her options. Her front door was open and she sighed. “Great, now I’ve got somebody shitting on the couch.” She blinked and smiled to herself. “I’ve been around Iain too much.”
Then she saw the familiar face in the window staring out at her. “Bee?” The tiny legendary waved at her and disappeared from her view. “Why on earth is she here? Well, there’s really only one way to find out.” Vanessa headed for her house at a trot.
Sexebi was sitting on one of the stools Vanessa had for winged or tailed guests. It was too tall for her and the diminutive figure was kicking her feet as she watched the door. She smiled. “Hi, Evangelion.”
“Hello, Sexebi. If you can wait just a moment, I’ll put a kettle on.”
Sexebi giggled. “You’ve been in Blue too long. You’re picking up their habits.”
“I’m only picking up their good ones.” Vanessa headed for the kitchen. “I have mint growing in my herb garden. Would you like that in your tea?”
“Thank you, Vanessa. I would.”
Vanessa paused. “You found out about my new name?”
“You aren’t keeping that a secret.”
Vanessa gave her a suddenly suspicious look. “What do you mean by that?”
Sexebi smiled cutely. “Everyone does have secrets of one kind or another.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Vanessa filled her kettle from the hand pump in the sink and placed the kettle on the stove before activating the magic heating plate that took the place of the stove element. Her house didn’t have electricity and she’d had to make adjustments over the centuries. It was interesting to see how Iain and his family were adjusting to not having electricity in their new home and she’d already started considering changes based on the solutions they were coming up with. Dominique and Iain could be very creative when they set their minds to it. “Let me get that mint.”
A few minutes later she joined Sexebi at the table while their cups steeped. “I don’t think you’ve ever been to my home, Bee.” She smiled briefly. “Well, not this particular home at least.”
“I had time to look around before you arrived. It’s nice.” Sexebi lifted off to hover. “I brought you something, Vanessa. Be right back!” She zipped through the door leading to Vanessa’s bedroom.
Evangelion looked around critically while waiting and shook her head sadly. “It’s not my home anymore,” she whispered to herself. “I’ve become dependant on the goodwill of a mortal for my home now. That should really bother me, but for some reason it doesn’t.” She blinked and sat up straight when Sexebi came back into the room with a package. “What is this?”
The legendary of time put a small wooden box on the table. “Open it and see!”
Vanessa carefully opened the box and looked inside as Sexebi returned to her stool. She glanced at the legendary and lifted out a cloth bundle that turned out to be a dark red t-shirt when she shook it out. On the in front gold letters she read: “I tamed an Author and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
Vanessa stared it for a moment and then began laughing. “Where did you get this?”
Sexebi’s eyes twinkled. “Micah made it for me. Do you like it?”
“I do. It’s cute. It’s a shame I can’t wear it anywhere in public, but it’ll be funny to watch April trying to decide how she feels about it.” She gave her friend a teasing smile. “So, do you have a shirt like this for yourself?”
Sexebi turned pink. “I do not!”
Vanessa’s smile widened. “Will you?”
“Stop teasing me! You’re not being very nice.”
“Sorry, Bee, but it’s just too easy to tease you. That’s what friends do.” Vanessa got up and retrieved the cups of tea. “I apologize if I hurt your feelings.” She put Sexebi’s teacup in front of her.
Sexebi gave her a slightly sullen look. “Accepted.” Then she brightened visibly and picked up her cup. “There’s more in the box, but it’s for Kerrik from Micah.”
“I don’t think he’ll wear a shirt like this.”
“It’s not that. Micah recorded a message for him and sent him a spell that he and his harem worked out. What it does is a secret and you’re not supposed to see it unless Kerrik wants you to.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed. “It won’t hurt Kerrik, will it?”
“Micah would never do that! He’s nice!” She giggled, “even if he is horny all the time.”
“Of course he is nice. I know you don’t spend any time around people who aren’t nice, Bee. I’m just glad to hear you and he are getting along.” She settled back with her tea. “I know you can’t tell me everything that’s going on, but you tell me what you can and I’ll return the favor.”
Sexebi’s wings fluttered happily. “Ok!”
***
Iain watched Montsho sparring with Scheherazade while Dominique refereed the match. April, Irena and Eve had gotten out a spare video player and were reviewing an earlier match between the Duelist and the Archmage for critique.
He summoned his magic book, settled down on a bench they’d set out and opened the tome. Today he was going to skim through the offensive magic sections to see if it had any ideas for killing all of the people in a large building without the use of binary chemical or nuclear weapons. He frowned and checked to see if there was a method of creating binary chemicals or the magical equivalent of nuclear weapons and grumbled to himself when he couldn’t find anything obvious.
“Well, shit.” He skimmed through the pages and stopped at ideas for manipulating fire. He read for a while and then smiled. “So that’s what I did wrong.” He held up his hand and concentrated. Flames appeared over his palm and grew in intensity as he fed them energy. “Cool.”
“Sir?” Hathor balanced a tray in one hand and offered him a glass of iced tea. “Would you like something to drink?” She eyed the fire warily. “Is that supposed to be happening?”
The flames vanished as Iain dismissed them. “Yup. I’ve been trying to get that right for a long time. It’s nice that I finally have.” He closed the book and reached for the glass. “That looks great. Thanks a lot.”
The Seeker broke through the trees and took in the scene. Power assessments showed insufficient reserves remaining to kill the fledgling outright. Factoring in the presence of the potential minions scattered around the area and it was unlikely that it could fulfill the primary Purpose. The secondary Purpose became paramount and the Seeker changed course, lining up on the fledgling as it contacted its master. I have found the fledgling. It has seven minions and is too strong for me to destroy. I will attack.
Mhodvitnar woke up from his sleep and reached for his clothes. Damage the fledgling as much as possible. I come.
Yes, my master. The Seeker charged all of its remaining energy and shot forward.
Iain saw a small winged draconic creature fly out of the trees and frowned, not recognizing this card of April’s. It turned to face him and suddenly glowed crimson before it streaked directly towards him in a blur. Abruptly his world went black as Sable erupted from his arm and wrapped herself around him.
The Seeker hit the Dragoness and exploded in a burst of magical energy that blasted Hathor away from Iain, shredding the Milktit’s body in the process.
Sable unwrapped from Iain as Aurum came off his other arm. Iain had time to register the fact that Hathor had been blown to bits when a figure appeared in the middle of the garden plot. A bolt of blue energy leapt from it and shot upwards to become a shimmering blue semi-transparent dome that covered a kilometer around them, preventing teleportation or telepathy in or out.
Mhodvitnar raised his hand and lightning leapt from it towards Iain. Aurum threw herself into the path of the blast and shrugged off the bolt to vomit fire at the dwarf while Sable kept her body between Iain and the truewizard dwarf.
Mhodvitnar gestured and the stream of fire turned in midair to wash over Irena, who screamed in agony. “I’ll clear the field of your minions, fledgling, and then deal with you.” Scheherazade’s laser took him in the middle of his back and he spun with a cry of pain, pulling his violet glowing axe from his ring as he did. He hurled the axe as Eve slammed into him from the side, her glowing sword bouncing off suddenly visible mystic armor of his own. He twisted and slammed a fist limned with crimson energy into her breastplate and a titanic explosion blasted her into the trees and out of sight in a spray of foliage shattered by her passage.
Scheherazade blocked the spinning axe with an armored arm only to have it shear through the arm and then her skull without slowing.
Iain collapsed as his head exploded in pain. He slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees before crawling for the shotgun propped up against the end of the bench.
Dominique launched a glowing ball of energy at the dwarf. It hit and exploded, making him stumble backwards just as April’s Dark Magician Girl hit him with her magical bolt, turning his stumble into a somersault.
Mhodvitnar rolled onto his back and launched a swarm of glowing darts that blasted through the construct. April fed power into a different card and created her Black Skull Dragon, which charged.
Montsho launched herself at the prone dwarf and spun just as his axe reappeared in his hand. Her tail slammed down on his chest and he cried out before swinging the axe and lopping her feet off at the ankles.
Mhodvitnar pushed to his feet just as Irena used her aura of command on him. “Freeze, you bastard.” He swayed in place for a second and then grinned and pointed at her. A beam of yellow light leapt from his finger to her and ate a glowing hole in the center of her chest that spread to dissolve her entire upper torso.
Iain’s fingers touched the butt of the shotgun when the fresh assault on his mind sent him into convulsions.
The dwarf screamed loudly when Eve’s hyper beam speared him just under the armpit and exited the other side of his body in a spray of flesh and blood. He dropped to his knees and hurled his axe at her as the wound began to close. The weapon cracked through her armor and smashed through her hips, shattering the bone and sending her to the ground as the weapon continued on to chew through the trees behind her. The Megami-sama clasped her hands to the wound and began healing it enough for her to get back up.
Her body hung together by strips of flesh and healing the damage would take valuable minutes.
Dominique launched a meter wide ball of fire that slammed into Mhodvitnar and knocked him off his feet. “Die, you fucker!” He responded with a bolt of energy that wrapped lines of glowing light around her that began burning its way into her body even as she used her power to try to neutralize the magic and keep it from killing her.
He clambered back to his feet just as April’s Black Skull Dragon spat a bolt of power at him. He spread his hands and caught the magic, holding it for a second before throwing it back at the construct, which exploded under the attack.
April swayed and focused her mind to create the Dark Magician Girl again. Fear stabbed through her mind as the dwarf moved to intercept her manifestation and she supercharged the construct with so much of her life that her heart slowed and her vision went black around the edges.
Montsho twisted around to face the dwarf as he walked away from her and changed to her battle form. She lunged, pushing herself on her stomach with the stumps of her legs, and slammed her jaws shut on Mhodvitnar. Bones cracked and blood spurted from her jaws as he screamed in agony.
With a tremendous noise, the Tyrannodame’s head exploded. The bones of her skull became shrapnel that battered April unconscious, her construct fading into nothingness as her focus was shattered.
The dwarf dropped to his knees as his body began to heal this latest assault. He snarled silently and his axe reappeared in his hand.
Aurum put her hands together and shot a beam of energy at Mhodvitnar that encased him in ice. His axe flared purple and the ice cracked into shards that fell away as he hurled the axe at the golden Dragoness.
Sable darted forward and blocked the weapon with her body. It sank into her chest and stopped as she grabbed the handle with both hands. Her body began to shudder and energy coruscated around her in a display that caused the ground underneath her feet to steam as it burned all the flesh from her skeleton.
Aurum charged the dwarf, who almost negligently made a throwing motion at her. Green energy leapt from his hand. She dodged, but the ball moved with her and took her in the chest. It dissolved its way into her body and grew as it ate everything it touched. Aurum ignored and it continued her charge until it severed her legs and then began pulling herself with her hands until it dissolved her shoulders. She slumped into the green and disappeared.
Sable stopped shuddering and the light display died away. One at a time, her bones began to fall from her body and drop to the ground. Mhodvitnar took the handle of his axe and jerked the weapon free, causing her to come apart completely.
Iain got his fingers on the shotgun and rolled onto his back just as Mhodvitnar changed his axe to hammer and threw it at him. The hammer took him in the left hip and crushed the bones of his hips and spine. The shotgun spun away in the impact. The dwarf chuckled as he picked Iain up by the throat. Magic prickled inside Iain as his constant absorption of the magic around him increased slightly in the direction of the dwarf due to the proximity to a powerful magic source. “I already know about firearms, human. They won’t save you, but they might make me hurry and finish you off too quickly. I knew about pokegirls, too, and I am surprised yours managed to hurt me so much.” He peered into Iain’s eyes as the human clawed at his arm. “I am going to hurt you in return and that pain is going to be far more than you can ever imagine, human.” He glanced over his shoulder where Dominique was still fighting the magic trying to kill her. “But I am going to kill them first and you’re going to watch me do it.”
Iain saw the Archmage’s desperate struggle and snapped. He wrapped his hands around the dwarf’s arm and imagined his constant absorption becoming a torrent so powerful that Mhodvitnar couldn’t put out energy faster than he could suck it in. And at the same time, the dwarf’s words “hurt you more than you can ever imagine” echoed through him.
Deep in his psyche, on a barren plain surrounded by dead trees, a solid portcullis exploded in a series of reports that blew down half the wall around the domelike prison for those things that should never be let out. The dome was smashed inwards and the blast scraped the plug and protective columns from the throat of the prison as if it were made of paper. The anger and pain and fear erupted from the well and mixed with the fresh pain and fury from the deaths of those he loved and protected creating a howling tornado of rage that that roared through Iain. He wrapped everything with his magic to give it something to feed on and imagined it pouring through him and into Mhodvitnar through his arm.
The dwarf screamed and tried to shake him off, but Iain clung to the arm with everything he had as he drained the power from his opponent. Pounding on Iain’s head with his free hand, the dwarf slowly sank to his knees as he tried to summon magic and failed as it was sucked out of him as faster than he could produce it from his reserves or drain it from the environment.
He might have been able to think of a way to defeat this, but the agony marauding through him was like nothing he’d ever experienced and he couldn’t focus his mind through it enough to mount a cohesive defense against it.
Iain was never sure how long he held on until the impact spun him away into darkness.
***
Iain opened his eyes and looked up at a gray faced Eve. The fear in her eyes retreated when he moved. “I’m sorry, Iain. I couldn’t get through to you and you were surrounded by some kind of energy field that tried to kill me when I touched it. I had to use a rock to knock you out before it would stop. You’ve only been out for a minute.”
“Help me sit up.” She raised him slowly to a sitting position. “What happened to April and Dominique or Aurum and Sable?”
“I healed you and Dominique. I tried to heal April, but I can’t get her to wake up. Aurum is regenerating and I don’t know about Sable. The other Dragonesses showed up when the dome went down and they’re guarding the area. They won’t talk to me about Sable.”
“I may be able to help April. Please bring her to me.”
The Megami-sama teleported to April, scooped her up and teleported back to lay the Duelist in his lap. “She’s dying, Iain.”
Iain wrapped April up in his arms and let his magic fill him. He began trickling it into the woman he held and relief flooded through him when she absorbed it and began to grow stronger. “There’s been enough death today, Eve. April’s not adding to it.” He focused on his maharani. “You and Dominique run each other through the PPHU right now.”
He blinked when a silver form raced in his direction and screeched to a halt in front of him. “Master, I can operate the PPHU for what remains of your living harem.”
Iain’s eyes closed at the sudden surge of pain and he forced it down. “Thank you. What of Sable and Aurum?”
“Sable is truly dead. Aurum is recovering and will be whole by dawn. We could not sense your danger and thus did not know to come to your defense.”
“It was a threat nobody ever imagined, Eirian. There is no blame to give out. Eve, get yours, Dominique’s and April’s balls and let Eirian heal all of you.” He looked at Eve. “Thank you for finishing Mhodvitnar off.”
“I didn’t. He was dead when I checked him after knocking you out.” She blinked. “Is that his name? How do you know it?”
Iain’s eyes went wide. “I, I’m not sure.”
He started speak again but stopped when Vanessa teleported into the scene and threw herself at him. “Iain! I came as soon as I realized something was wrong.” She looked at the carnage around them and her face stilled. “Oh, no.”
Dominique came out of the house with three pokeballs and stopped next to Eve, watching with neutral eyes as Vanessa held Iain. She spoke quietly to her maharani. “How is he?” She pointed a ball and recovered April.
“I healed all his physical wounds. You can feel how much he hurts inside.” The Megami-sama plucked all three pokeballs from Dominique. “Eirian is going to run us through the PPHU.”
“It’s about time she did something useful, but we could take turns.”
“We have three of them. Get them out and we can be done faster this way.”
Three minutes later April, Eve and Dominique had been released from their pokeballs and stood in a small group. April looked around with pain filled eyes. “Has he said what we’re going to do with the bodies?”
“No, I haven’t.” Iain slowly pushed to his feet. “Vanessa, I need to talk with my harem. Could you make some tea?”
The legendary looked like she’d been slapped but then nodded quietly. “I guess I deserved that. I’ll be inside.” She vanished.
Dominique shook her head. “She gets her comeuppance and I’m in no mood to appreciate it. Damn.”
Eve took Iain’s hand. “That was unnecessary and you know it.”
“Was it? She’s been careful to make sure we all know this isn’t her family. So it’s not. Don’t worry; I’m sure I’ll be asking for her help during the cleanup and she can get even then.” He managed a ghost of a smile. “Tirsuli burn their dead and scatter the ashes in a family garden. They don’t need to, but I’ve never liked cemeteries and so I made it that way. It’s a good thing, too, since digging a grave for Montsho’s corpse would require a fucking bulldozer.” His voice caught. “I’m going to miss all of them.” He looked at Eve. “Do we abandon the house?”
Dominique shrugged. “I took a look at it while I was inside. Structurally there doesn’t seem to be any damage. The reasons we moved out here for are still valid, so the only reason we might want to leave would be emotional. I think we should stay.”
Iain nodded. “Eve?”
“I think Dominique is right. We just moved here, but this is our home. However, we all know that the final decision is yours, Iain.”
He shook his head. “I could ram through a decision on my own, but that wouldn’t be right. I want your opinions because they’re important too. April?”
She cocked her head. “So if I want to stay then we will?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you won’t have to give your opinion. I want to hear what you think, no matter what I think. Promise me you’ll give your opinion too.”
He opened mouth, paused and closed it before nodding submissively. “I promise.”
“Then I think we’re going to stay. Eve, make sure you’re listening for lies. What’s your opinion, Iain?”
He looked around. “I’ve had people I love die where I live before. It wasn’t like this since they died in their sleep, but still, this isn’t entirely new to me. I’m not afraid of ghosts or the memories of those I love. That makes the decision to stay unanimous.”
“We’ve all had to deal with death,” Eve said quietly, “and all the things that come with it. What do you want to do with their possessions?”
He rubbed his hands together as if cold. “If it’s ok, we’ll table that discussion until later. We have some pretty big issues to consider, but first we have to take care of our dead.” He looked at his ladies. “That includes Sable. I’ll take care of her bones.” He grimaced. “I think they need to be handled with gloves that’ll need to be burned afterwards.”
Eve began picking at the dried blood on her ragged dress. “I don’t necessarily agree with your opinion of her, but I do understand and since you want it she’ll be included with our family. I hope you don’t propose to burn them in the garbage pit or on the barbecue.”
April gagged audibly. “That’s gross. If their ashes are supposed to go into the garden, we’ll build a pyre there.”
“What about him?” Dominique jerked a thumb in the direction of Mhodvitnar’s body.
Iain glanced at the corpse. “Strip him of everything of value and feed him to the sharks. Oh, and don’t touch his hammer. I think it’s tuned only to him and with him dead it’s very dangerous. We may end up using rope to drag it into a tub of concrete or molten steel and dropping it way out to sea.”
Eve looked at the weapon and shuddered. “What happened to the axe he threw at me? It went through my armor like it wasn’t even there.”
“It’s the same weapon. It changes shape as the wielder desires it to. It cut through your shields because it was designed to defeat magical protection. It’s not that hard for a truewizard to do that sort of thing when he makes magic items.”
“Does this mean you’ll be able to do something like that someday?”
“If I want to, yes.” Iain rubbed his face. “It’s weird; apparently there was some kind of information transfer when we were fighting. I know a lot about him and when I think about that axe I know how he did it. I couldn’t do it if I wanted to, at least not yet. He’s a lot older than I am and vastly more experienced. It’s a wonder he didn’t kill us all.”
Dominique looked at him curiously. “What did happen to him? Eve told me he was already dead when she managed to knock you out.”
“He made a crack about hurting me more than I could ever imagine and then said he was going to kill the rest of you while I watched. I had the thought that I’d show him and let all my anger and pain go. Then I shoved all those emotions into him. Apparently I’d already experienced more pain than he could imagine and it killed him.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s scary. Does it mean you’re back to being angry all the time?”
“It does. I’ll have to lock it all back up again or things will eventually spiral out of control like they did last time.”
April touched his face. “We who are left are all delta bonded to you. Can we help?”
Iain swallowed hard before turning his head so he could kiss her palm. “I don’t think you can, but if you’d like you can watch how I do this.”
“I’d like that.”
“We all would.” Eve sighed. “Dominique and I will start moving our dead. April, go inside and tell Vanessa we could really use her help and that I’d like to talk to her and make sure burning the bodies in the garden won’t upset some plans she has. She does live here with us after all.” She frowned. “Iain, we’ll need to secure a new supply of milk for her.”
“Somebody can make daily trips to Dublin or Glasgow for it.” He winced. “I have to tell Irena’s mother that her daughter is dead. Scheherazade never said anything about family to me. Hathor was ranch raised and Montsho’s mother has been dead for years.” He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. “I can’t fall apart right now. Ladies, we need to get to work before this draws ferals. I’ll start with Sable. Eve, I’d like April’s constructs on watch while we work.”
***
“I’m sorry I was so rude to you earlier, Vanessa.” Iain determinedly didn’t turn away from the funeral pyre. It hurt to watch the bodies of his women turning to ash, but he’d failed them and this was only the tiniest part of what he owed them. They’d died saving him and there was no way to repay that.
April had powered up her flame card to the point that the fire was so hot that it burned flesh and bone without generating any smoke. It was also baking the ground beneath to the consistency of concrete, but that could be dealt with after it cooled.
“Iain, I’ve consistently distanced myself from your harem. You were absolutely right in that the decisions you needed to make then were family ones. Someday, maybe things will be different for us, but not right now.” She glanced at him. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when he arrived.”
“Are you really? He could have hurt the baby.”
“Iain, our child needs its father too. That means I’d like you to stay alive.” She clasped her hands behind her back. “I have seen that if I get involved with Sanctuary things will be worse than they were today. You’ll all die. But if I’d have been here today, I would have fought at your side.”
“It’s good to hear that, but I’m glad you weren’t here. Did your intruder cause too much trouble?”
Vanessa frowned. “I’m not sure yet. It was Sexebi.”
“I hope she’s doing well.” His voice sounded light, but Vanessa had lived with him for too long not to hear the pain. Still, he was trying.
“She is. She brought me a funny t-shirt.” Vanessa watched the fire roar toward the sky. “It was funny then. Now, not much is amusing.”
“I could use some funny. We all could. Where is it?”
“I left everything at my house when he died and I could feel you were in danger.” She turned to face him. “Would you like to see it? I need to go back anyways. She brought some stuff for you from Micah Hakubi.”
He nodded. “That’s good to hear. Hopefully Micah’s message is cheerful. We’re having a wake tonight and you’re going to be there since you knew them too. I’ll take a look at whatever Micah sent me later.” He smiled slightly. “With my magic being so unpredictable, I can’t drink anymore so you ladies will have to take up the slack in the adult beverage consumption.”
“I’m pregnant, remember? I’m not supposed to drink either.”
“One or two drinks won’t hurt you.”
“If they won’t hurt me, then a couple won’t hurt you either.” She smiled when he looked surprised. “Deal?”
He chuckled with real humor for the first time. “Just remember to stop me at three, no matter how much I may want to get blitzed out of my mind.”
“I will.”
***
The empty plain had had grown and seemed to extend for miles as Iain, April, Dominique and Eve appeared near the tree line. “This is the mental prison for my anger and other antisocial emotions. As you can see, I totaled it while killing Mhodvitnar.” The ruins of the prison were visible in the distance, the center of a series of long radiating cracks in the soil. “I’ll have to fix that first. It leads into the dungeon cavern and things could get out again.” The fissures filled in from the outer edges and moved inwards toward the ruins.
Eve looked around carefully. “This is incredibly detailed. And you did this without the help of a psychic?”
“The more detailed the image, the more power I have over it. At times I used to have incidents of rage that bordered on the berserker. Controlling that enough to function in a modern society takes a lot of effort.” The scene jumped and they were standing in front of the drawbridge that crossed the fosse.
Dominique stepped onto the drawbridge and turned to look at them. “You could imagine something a bit more powerful, couldn’t you?”
“I could, but I like medieval castles. That and I happen to be familiar enough with castles that imagining this required minimal effort on my part.” He thought and the walls began to grow from the wreckage as the rubble dissolved. “I’ll make the walls taller and stronger this time, though. When the miasma escapes from the cavern this hopefully will buy enough time for me to restrain it before it sweeps through me.” For an instant anguish crossed his face. “I’ve got a lot more anger and pain thanks to that fucking dwarf, may his soul burn in the deepest level of the nine hells.”
He stepped into the courtyard. The mouth of the well was clearly visible in the ruins of the dome. “That’s the entrance to the caverns below. Give me a minute to picture the new spiffy dome and I’ll get started on it.” He closed his eyes.
April headed for the pit. “I want to see this.” Eve and Dominique followed when Iain didn’t respond.
The pit was several meters across and descended into darkness. Warm air swirled out of it in a steady breeze as April gingerly peered over the edge. “I can’t see anything. I wonder what’s down there.”
Dominique grinned at her. “You’ve been working on your magic, pokegirl, under the expert tutelage of two masters of the arts. Summon a light and send it the fuck down there.”
“Bite me.” April’s face tightened when she realized what she’d said. “Sorry. Shay used to say that a lot. I need to watch that.”
“I have lost a lot of companions over the years,” Eve said gently, “and so has Dominique. Live long enough and you will too. Remembering them is very important, but it can’t overpower who you are. You’ll go crazy if you try to do that and I suspect that if Iain has his way, you’ll end up with something very much resembling longevity before it’s all said and done. He loves you as much as he does me or Dominique.”
April blinked. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
Eve smirked. “Of course you haven’t. Instead of a few decades, you’ve got centuries of life and that’s at the very least. You’ll give Iain so many kids you two will run out of names for them. It’ll be Iain number seventeen for lack of anything else.” She grinned. “Between the three of us we’ll yell ‘Iain’ and thirty heads will pop up to see what their mothers want. Then they’ll scatter like Eva.”
April laughed so hard that tears appeared in her eyes as she created a globe of light. It dropped into the pit and brightened as it fell. A dozen meters down the cavern widened out and disappeared from view. Below, the floor of the cavern came into view, revealing an odd looking crater the size of the tunnel above it.
Dominique frowned. “What is that? Drop your light closer.”
The light descended further until the details of the crater became visible. Suddenly the ground trembled and rocked beneath them. Dominique grabbed the back of April’s shirt as the Duelist began to fall into the pit. “Careful, sister.”
“Holy shit!” April pointed into the pit. “Look!”
Eve and Dominique leaned over to see. Inside the cavern the crater had opened to reveal a brilliant sapphire circle the size of the pit. As they watched, the sides of the crater slid over the circle and the trembles ceased. Dominique jerked April backwards. “Turn off that fucking light now!”
“It’s gone.” April looked from Eve to Dominique. “What was that?”
Eve was watching Iain as the sides of the dome began to grow up from the ground. She shivered. “Let’s get back to him.”
“Eve, what was that?”
“It was an eye, April, and I never want to meet whatever is down there that the eye belongs to.” She looked around and shivered again. “I really hope Iain gets done soon.”
As they headed back to Iain the walls of the dome began to grow up from the stone of the courtyard. At the same time the top of the well grew above ground and thickened into the threaded platform that had existed before. Next to it, the matching plug grew from the floor. Soon everything was ready.
Iain turned to his ladies. “Needless to say, I’ve never done this with anyone else here and I’m not sure exactly what will happen when I start reining in my emotions. I want you to be ready to leave at the first sign of trouble. I don’t want to find out that something really bad happens if I trap another personality in the cavern with my emotions.” His mouth set. “Not with you I don’t.”
Dominique shrugged. “We’ll be ready to run, but as long as you imagine it not affecting us, we’ll be fine. Even I know that much about psychic constructs.”
“I hope you’re right.” Iain closed his eyes. “And now it starts.” He closed his eyes.
April kept close to Eve as the wind began to flow backwards.
***
The trees formed a natural amphitheatre around a pool whose water danced in the sunlight. A twenty foot waterfall dropped from the stream above and filled the area with its sweet sound as it pattered onto the rocks at its base.
Magdalene wore comfortable jeans and a blouse the color of the sky as she sat on a rock at the edge of the pool. Her eyes looked into the water but her mind was so far away from her physical location that the motion of the waves didn’t register to her.
“If I were a feral, you’d be in trouble.”
Magdalene jumped and looked around with a guilty expression that only deepened when she saw her sister. “Tanika. No feral would come here while I’m present.”
Red furred ears flicked as Tanika looked around the area. “Nice little place you’ve found to be depressed, sister.” She frowned. “Hold that thought.”
Magdalene watched with a curious expression as Tanika waded into the pool and walked around the outer edge to push through the waterfall and disappear for a moment. When she reappeared, she had a triumphant grin as she waded back to the Kirin. “I knew it!”
Magdalene cocked her head. “Knew what?”
Tanika stopped in front of her. Water dripped from her to the ground as she held out her clenched fist and opened it to reveal a gold ring. “I hid this in the grotto back home as a test. All this time you haven’t been finding places that looked like it, you’ve been copying the one at home wherever you happen to be.”
“You could have asked me.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She dropped the token into her pocket and began wringing water from her hair. “I take it from your depressed look you didn’t expect things to unfold as they did.”
Magdalene’s guilty look crossed her face again. “No, I didn’t. Why don’t you just dry yourself?”
Tanika chuckled. “You know that the occasional discomfort keeps us grounded in reality. It’s a small price to pay.” She held out her arms and water steamed off of her. “There.” She sat down next to Magdalene. “You want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.”
“Tough. Discussing where the wheels came off is also good for keeping us grounded. He did win, you know, and without you having to get involved. You have a fledgling with an astonishing bit of ingenuity. The girls will be falling all over themselves to meet him. Just be sure and warn them about turning their back on April unless you want to thin their numbers out.” Feline teeth flashed in a quick grin. “I like her.”
“You watched the fight. After everything you watched the fight. What, were you ready to get involved in spite of your agreement to stay out of my business?”
“I have children and sibs looking for husbands too. If you are stupid enough to let him almost die and I rescue him, I get the right to introduce him to my children.” She pulled a hairbrush out of the air and began brushing out her tail. “Or is it how he won that’s bothering you? He doesn’t know what he did. Iain thinks that Mhodvitnar died from the memories that were injected into him. It would have killed him soon enough.”
“That’s what frightens me. If he doesn’t know, he could do it by accident.”
“Mags, it took almost all of his concentration. It’s not something he could do by accident. We both know his safeguards are outstanding and he shows no signs of having kept anything except the dwarf’s memories when he consumed Mhodvitnar’s soul. Everything else got shredded and sucked in his magic storage.” She smiled. “If nothing else, it means no matter what that stupid dwarf had set up in case of his death, he has no way of coming back. He’s dead forever. There won’t be any clones showing up looking for revenge. That’s a good thing. When Iain is older, whether it’s you or me, his mother-in-law can ‘discover’ what he actually did and school him in making sure it never happens again. His Megami-sama will be suitably horrified and eager to help. I know you’re not concerned about the women he lost.”
Magdalene shrugged. “They weren’t important to me. They were important to him, but people die. Even he knows that. The problem is that we both feel that what he didn’t isn’t exactly what a good wizard does. What if he decides to go down that road?”
“You haven’t been paying much attention to Eve. She’s not going to let him do that and he’s willing to let her not let him.” She began braiding her hair. “Iain Grey is as practical as the worst of us can be, but he’s not deliberately cruel. I know he’d be appalled at what he did if the dwarf didn’t deserve it so much. He’ll be a good addition to the family and if you don’t see that, then I’ll start making a list of my girls for him.”
“You keep your sharp little claws out of him.”
Tanika snorted. “I don’t have a choice right now. He’s honorable and will abide by the agreement you and he have until you tell him he’s been released. You did tell him not to consider the daughters of anyone else as part of your agreement, right?”
Magdalene went still.
“You didn’t! Oh, you silly girl, I have something to sell to everyone else now. Thanks!” She vanished.
Magdalene stared at the spot where her sister had stood. “Fuck.”
***
Iain put the lantern on the dresser and summoned light globes for each corner of the room. He looked around the room for a moment, steeling himself for what he must do. Then he moved to the bed and stripped the pillowcases from the pillows. The pillows went onto the floor while the pillowcases went in the middle of the bed. Then he methodically stripped the bedding by pulling it loose from the bottom and top of the bed but not pulling it off the mattress yet.
Then he headed for the dresser, pausing only long enough to aim a savage kick at one of the pillows that got in his way. Any clothing in the dresser went on the bedding to be washed since Scheherazade had kept a vastly different opinion of what constituted dirty clothing than anyone else. Besides, other than a few items such as a couple of stained rain cloaks, most of the clothing was his that she’d taken so she could wallow in his scent even when she wasn’t with him. He blinked and smiled slightly when he found a boot he’d thrown away a while ago. It showed significant signs of chewing. That went on the floor next to the bedroom door.
Everything that wasn’t clothing went on top of the dresser. He moved methodically, cleaning out every drawer in turn, only stopping when he pulled a rolled up sock from the back of one drawer. Something heavy had been stashed inside it and he unrolled the sock to reveal what it protected. It was a necklace and Iain held it up to flash golden in the light.
It was her escudo, the memento of their grand adventure in the ruins of Edinburgh when it had only been the three of them and Dominique.
The sudden pain of her loss staggered him and he dropped to his knees as he cradled the Spanish coin, his breath rasping in his throat as he fought the tears.
His sense of time damaged, he was never sure how long he knelt there, but finally he rose and went back to the dresser. The escudo was put back in the sock and rolled up again. He put the sock in his pocket and went back to cleaning out the dresser.
He was working on the closet when Eve spoke from the doorway. “Iain, it’s two in the morning. This can wait until morning.” Her hair was tousled and she yawned as he came out of the closet with a bundle in his arms.
“I can’t sleep,” he said simply. He dumped the bundle on the bed. “And this needed done. Why are you awake?”
“I’m awake because you are.”
“That’s silly. You can sleep. Go back to bed, Eve.”
“You’re the silly one. If I make some tea, will you still be here when I get back?”
He nodded. “I will. How did someone that didn’t wear clothes accumulate so much crap?”
“She filched clothes and stuff we threw in the rubbish. You see it in ranch raised pokegirls sometimes. It’s like they’re afraid that if they throw something away they’ll never be able to replace it.” She gave him a sad smile when his face paled. “It’s ok. Nobody knew anything about her past. I asked her about it once and she said that she was reborn the day she met you and shed her past when you fled the Free Bitch with her. That’s all she’d ever say about her life before you.”
“I should have at least thought to ask.”
“You don’t talk about your past, Iain. That means it’s not important to you and so you didn’t think to ask about hers.” She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “Why don’t you come with me to the kitchen while I make that tea? Then we can finish up here and do the other rooms before April or Dominique gets up.” She squared her shoulders. “We need to talk about hard reality anyway and I need to plant the seeds in your head as soon as possible, no matter how much this discussion is going to hurt.”
“You want to talk about adding to the harem.” When she looked surprised he smiled faintly. “I pretend to have conversations with people sometimes and Scheherazade has been lecturing me about how much of our fighting strength we lost yesterday. You and she are right, but I’m not ready for it yet.” He sighed, blew out the lantern and took her hand. “And when the time does come, we will not be getting the same kinds of pokegirls. No Dire or Dread Wolves and no Night Nurses. And I don’t think I’ll ever find another Tyrannodame like Montsho or Milktit like Hathor.”
“I wouldn’t dream of trying to replace them, Iain, and neither would anyone else here.” She tugged gently on his arm. “Now let’s get that tea.”
Behind them the light globes winked out one by one, returning the room to darkness.
***
Iain Grey - Tradesman
Eve - Megami-sama (maharani)
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
April - Duelist
Dragonesses
Eirian - Silver
Skye - Blue
Emerald - Green
Aurum - Gold
Beryl - Red