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A Little Blue
Thirteen
09/03/09 1400 Blackburn, Scotland
As soon as Ceres was released from her pokeball, she changed to her standard form and gave Ciaran a curious look. “Please explain about the grenades.”
Victoria looked up from where she was laying wood for a fire. “Grenades?”
Eliana and Libby were inside the closest abandoned houses, searching them for the largest pots they could find while Elsa was on sentry duty. The plan was to stop here for a few hours to clean up from their immersions in the ocean before moving on to Glasgow and dealing with the British authorities.
“You had grenades?” Baker was tearing down her rifle to clean it.
“I requisitioned some grenades for the mission,” he said as he stripped down to his pants. His clothes were starting to dry and the itching from the salt water was already beginning. “I threw two of them behind Ceres as we swam away from the ferries.”
Ceres took his shirt and put it on the pile of things to be washed. “Why?”
“Sharks are attracted to low frequency sounds, including explosions. Feral pokegirls might be as well. The fewer Blues who make it to shore the better.”
Elsa looked over from where she was standing. “Did I mention that I really like the way you think?”
“It’s not that,” he said. “We were doing a job and you should do a job well if you’re going to do it at all. There’s no way they have enough teleporting or water pokegirls to save them all, but we still want as many of them to die as possible. For the ones who make it to shore, they have three choices of what to do. They rest and continue the mission if they can, they return to the Blue League and go back to fighting the war against the Royals or, if they’re pokegirls and alone, they can also go feral and become a menace to everyone. In every one of those scenarios they go on to kill more people and continue the brutality we’ve already seen from them.” He shrugged. “What we did was the best that we could have. If we’d had more water pokegirls we might still be there killing them, but we don’t. Frankly, I’m happy that we don’t. I’m not a killer unless I have no other choice.” He looked up as Eliana and Libby returned, carrying a huge container with them. “What have you ladies got?”
“We found a metal tub,” Libby announced proudly. “We loaded all of the pots we could find into it, but we can heat bath water inside the tub and take it off the fire for bathing while heating more water in the other pots.”
“Excellent. Get it filled and heating. Victoria, please set up a lottery to determine the order in which people will bathe. I’ll go last.” He waited until Victoria opened her mouth to protest. “Don’t argue with me. This isn’t that important to waste energy fighting over.” She closed her mouth with a click. “Thank you.”
While the bath was being filled he moved over to stand with Elsa. He glanced at her and spoke barely above a whisper. “How do you feel after all of the teleports you did? I know they can be extremely taxing to do in rapid succession.”
Her eyes flicked towards him before going back to the area around them. “I’m exhausted,” she admitted quietly. “I’ll recover with a bit of rest, but it’ll be easier next time. Not only will I get stronger from today, by that time Victoria will know how to teleport and she can help carry people around.”
“I’m glad for everything you did.”
She smiled. “Praise will get you anything you want. Now go away. You’re too distracting.”
He laughed and headed back to the fire.
09/04/09 0930 Glasgow, Scotland
“Well, that’s the first load of prisoners,” General Milne said in a somber voice. “Do you have any idea how many people were on the ferries?”
Ciaran nodded. “There were a little over two thousand humans and pokegirls between the two vessels.”
“Can you estimate how many of them might have been pokegirls?”
“Have you read the report Lieutenant Baker wrote about the incident?”
Milne glanced at him. “I haven’t. It hasn’t been released yet. Why?”
Ciaran was watching the line of prisoners being shepherded by Royal tamers and their pokegirls as they walked down the ramp of the rescue ship. “There were five divisions of tamers on those ferries. I don’t know the exact numbers but anywhere from twenty five to forty percent of the personnel on them were pokegirls. How many people did you rescue?” As soon as Baker had reported what had taken place, the Royals had launched rescue ships to recover any survivors that they could locate. These people would be going straight into prison camps or, in the case of the pokegirls, given new tamers and impressed into the Royal Army, but that was a lot better than the fate which awaited them if they were left adrift in the sea.
“So far,” Milne replied, “we have recovered nearly three hundred survivors. We will keep searching until darkness makes it too dangerous to continue, but we’ve already found most of the ones we will.”
Ciaran swallowed hard as the thought bounced around inside his head. I killed over seventeen hundred people. That wasn’t really true, he knew. Some of them would have escaped on their own, but too few for it to make a difference to him. He’d known what he’d been doing when he made the plan, but until now it was just that, a plan. The dead he was going to create with it was just a number until it slapped him in the face. He had no choice but to live with what he’d done, and the fact that they’d have killed far more Royals than the number of people his plan had killed if they’d made it to Glasgow brought him no solace at all.
Milne looked at him and apparently read something in Ciaran’s face. “You did what you had to, lad.”
Ciaran’s voice was bitter. “Someday that’ll mean something to me. Right now, it doesn’t.” Victoria’s head twitched but she didn’t speak. This wasn’t the place to try and comfort her man.
A small knot of people were being held off to one side of the ramp as the rest were led away. Ciaran frowned. “What is going to happen to those people?”
“Those are the senior officers,” Milne’s voice was suddenly hard, with anger bubbling behind it. “Under the circumstances they get special consideration.” He motioned and the tamers and pokegirls guarding that group spoke to the prisoners, who began walking towards them.
Ciaran watched them curiously. As they approached he recognized a harried looking General Fowler, but nobody else. For an instant he wondered about the fate of Captain Kangethe, but the captain was certainly not senior enough to be in this group. He didn’t see Lieutenant Colonel Turner, either.
The prisoners were stopped by their guards a handful of meters from Milne’s group.
“You!” Fowler stared at Ciaran with hate filled eyes. “I thought you were dead, major. I never thought you’d become a traitor! You murdered us, you bloody bastard!”
“He is not a traitor,” Victoria said flatly as Ciaran flinched. “He was never a Blue.”
“Hello, Thaddeus,” Milne said.
Fowler blinked and looked at the man standing beside Ciaran for the first time. He looked surprised. “Amos.”
“Thaddeus, I must say that I find it incredibly ironic that you, of all people, would cast the word traitor into someone else’s teeth. I must say that Her Majesty will be quite pleased to hear you have finally been captured. You betrayed your oaths to Queen and Country. While not even a British citizen, this lad performed the duties that should have been yours far better than you ever did.” He looked at the captain leading the guard contingent. “Captain Miller, General Fowler is not to be placed with the other prisoners in the senior officer’s cells. He will be taken to the maximum security building and incarcerated there. You see, this is General Thaddeus Fowler and he is a war criminal. He is charged with, among all of his other crimes, high treason. He had a direct hand in the killing of Queen Elizabeth and other members of the Royal Family.”
Captain Miller looked at Fowler like a man examining a particularly ugly bug he was contemplating smashing. “Yes, sir. I will see to it personally, sir.”
Milne looked past Fowler at the rest of the prisoners. “I do not immediately recognize any other traitors from among them, Captain Miller. Now remove them from my presence, if you would be so kind.”
“Yes, sir.” Miller chivied the group back into motion and in moments they were gone.
“I’m surprised,” Ciaran said. “I’d have figured that you’d say that they were all traitors to the Crown.”
“The truth of the matter is that they are,” Milne admitted, “but we are not going to kill everyone on the rebel side. Those who take up arms against us will be tried and, if convicted, punished with forced labor. But only those who had violated their sworn oaths to serve the Crown or have committed other war crimes will be executed.” He went back to watching the boats unloading their pitiful collection of prisoners. “Her Majesty was quite firm in her instructions in that regard. We will not sink to the level of the Blues.” He glanced at Ciaran again. “I understand that you have business in Ireland.”
“I do.”
“Then will you be coming with the force that I’ll be leading to retake Cairnryan? Even without the ferry it’s a good place to cross to Ireland as the Wet Elf queen keeps the seas around that area quiet.”
Ciaran looked at Victoria, who appeared thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “It’s probably still the safest route to cross.”
“Then, general, we’ll be travelling with you. When do you leave?”
“We’ll be setting out at first light on the eighth.”
“We will be waiting,” Ciaran replied.
09/06/09 0745 Glasgow, Scotland
“Someone’s coming. Would you like it if I ran them off?”
Ciaran looked around. An athletic looking blonde woman in a major’s uniform was carefully picking her way over the rocks toward the end of the jetty where he sat, slowly moving from dry rock to dry rock as he watched. Behind her, a group of men and pokegirls watched them curiously. He chuckled humorlessly. “We don’t own this area and so we can’t prevent other people from disturbing us if they must. It’s probably a summons to another debriefing.” He frowned and looked around. He’d come down here after the nightmares had woken him again and, with a small start, realized he’d been sitting here for so long that the sun had come up and the tide was now coming in, which explained the wet rocks. He glanced behind him. “Do I need to leave before we get trapped here?”
Elsa grinned. She’d been surprised to find out that she liked this place. The thunder of the waves crashing against the rocks beat against them and satisfied something in her dark soul. “If you’re happy brooding here, then brood to your heart’s content. If we do get stranded by the tide I can always teleport us to safety.”
Ciaran nodded and went back to staring out at the waves. Eventually he became aware that the major was standing next to him. He didn’t bother to look up. “Yes?”
The woman looked around, started to say something and obviously changed her mind before she sat down next to him. “I come out here on days when I’m feeling pensive. Watching the sea tends to put my problems into their proper prospective. Is that why you happen to be here?”
“I don’t think he’s pensive,” Elsa commented. “He might be gloomy or depressed, but he’s not pensive.”
“I prefer the term contemplative,” Ciaran said. “So, major, did you come out here to watch the waves?”
“I wanted to talk you, Mr. Sullivan, and this setting is much better than an office, wouldn’t you say?”
“It certainly suits my mood.” He glanced at her again. Her uniform had no name on it, but that wasn’t unusual, considering the current situation. She hadn’t offered her name and, to be perfectly honest, he was feeling too antisocial to care.
She wasted no time in starting with questions. “Why are you so gloomy, Mr. Sullivan? You saved Glasgow and the remainder of the British Isles from, at the very least, a nasty invasion. This attack could have ultimately ended the war. A lot of people who are alive here today wouldn’t still be that way if that had happened.”
“I’m not a soldier, major. I took no oath to protect Great Britain from her enemies. I certainly didn’t get a license to kill people when I came here. But that’s what I did. I know what they would have done if they’d come here, but still, my plan and my orders killed them and the responsibility for each death rests on my soul just as much as it would have if I’d killed every one of them with my hands.” He grimaced. “And the aftermath bothers me as much as the killing does.”
“I do not understand. Why does what is happening now trouble you?”
“It’s the surviving pokegirls, major. With a few possible exceptions, they didn’t swear any oaths either. But they are going to be punished even more than the soldiers are. Instead of becoming prisoners of the Crown, they get raped into service in the Royal Army just like they got raped into service in the Blue League Army. And they get no say in the matter.”
“Why does what happens to them concern you, Mr. Sullivan?”
“Because from the moment they were born, the lot of every pokegirl on the planet has been one of unending service for someone. James Scott created them to serve him and gave them no choice in the matter.” He snorted. “There were no conscientious objectors in Scott’s armies. If there were, I suspect they were executed before they could spread their philosophies. Scott forced them to fight until he lost and they then became the servants of the humans.” He glanced at the woman sitting next to him. She was watching the waves, but he could sense that she was listening closely to his words. “There are rules for how humans treat other humans, both legal and moral rules but they don’t apply in the case of pokegirls. Why should they be treated any differently than you or I should? What crime have they committed that calls for the sentence of a lifetime of unwilling labor to anyone who can force himself on one of them?”
“They have to have humans or they’ll go feral,” the major pointed out softly.
He nodded. “They do. But they don’t even have the right to decide which human they might want to keep them aware, do they? Instead they get whoever is next in line. And they don’t get the chance to decide if they want to fight your war or instead they’d rather be farmers or fishers feeding your populace or engineers helping to rebuild your infrastructure. And all of this is because they were the puppets of James Scott while he offended against humanity. Because of what he did, they get punished forever.”
“What would you have us do differently, Mr. Sullivan?”
He glanced at her. “Do you really want to hear my opinion?”
“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”
“I’d like two things.”
She cocked her head. “Only two things, Mr. Sullivan?”
He smiled softly. “These things are not minor, major.” His smile appeared for a second. “I made a bad pun.”
“Yes, you did. What would these two things be?”
“First of all, I’d like to see pokegirls treated like everyone else is. The same laws and rules applied to them that are applied to you or me. The pokegirls that are being recovered from the ferries should become prisoners of war and be treated as such.”
“They are vital to the war effort, Mr. Sullivan, and too much so that they can be left to sit idly in a prisoner camp.”
He nodded. “I figured you’d say something like that, but that leads into the second thing I’d like to see. If it is so dreadfully important to Great Britain that they fight, you should ask for volunteers just as you do from the other British subjects.” The major looked surprised. “That is what they are, after all. Most of them have lost their tamers and, while some of them might grieve for the man she’s lost, by and large they’re not stupid and by now they know quite well what will happen if they don’t find someone else to take care of their needs. Additionally, pokegirls, the majority of them at least, like to fight. Most of the orphaned pokegirls will want fighting tamers, but the ones that do should get to decide what tamer they might want to join in your fight with. I’d suggest putting everyone in a huge room and let them spend a little time together. If you want to enforce your numerical limits, I’d suggest a first come, first served policy or a lottery of some kind if too many pokegirls desire the same tamer. And, of course, the prospective tamer has a say in which pokegirls he or she is willing to accept.”
“What about the pokegirls who still have living tamers? You cannot expect us to put them together with their tamer and trust them not to try to escape, can you? That type of program would undoubtedly be disastrous.”
He shook his head. “I understand reality, major, and prisoners of war have few rights. Conjugal visits are not among those rights. Pokegirls who have living tamers who do not wish to move on to a new tamer will have to tame each other to keep from going feral while they hope to be reunited with their tamer. So should pokegirls who have lost their tamers who do not wish another one.” A wave crashed and mist sprayed over them both. “And I think we need to be making our way to someplace a little more secure before the tide rises high enough to drench us.”
He stood and offered a hand to the major, who took it. She smiled at him. “You’ve certainly given me a lot to think about, Mr. Sullivan.”
He smiled back. “That was your intention, wasn’t it?”
Her smile faded slightly. “What do you mean?”
Elsa didn’t quite sneer but her voice was heavy with derision. “You did come all the way out here just to speak to Ciaran, did you not?”
“Elsa, manners. The major here has been nothing but polite to me. I don’t want to see you being rude to her in return.”
The Mazouku’s ears flattened for a heartbeat. “I am sorry, miss. I had no call to be that rude to you.”
The major smiled again. “Your apology is accepted, Elsa. You are right, however, in that I did come here to get the measure of Mr. Sullivan. In return, he did give me several things to think about.”
Ciaran flashed a grin. “That would be me, changing the British Empire one mind at a time.”
She nodded. “One does what one must. Are you still planning to leave with General Milne on the eighth?”
She was remarkably well informed, but Ciaran didn’t see any reason to dissemble to her. “I am.”
“Then I will see you tomorrow.”
“You will?”
She nodded. “I will. Good day.” She made her way to the beginning of the jetty and he watched as the tamers and their pokegirls fell in around her.
“Do you have any idea what that was about?”
Elsa shook her head. “I do not.”
“I don’t either. Have I mentioned that I hate not knowing something?”
Elsa grinned suddenly. “See, we have still more things in common. I hate that too.”
“I suppose that’s true. Let’s head back to our rooms.”
09/07/09 1120 Glasgow, Scotland
“Ciaran, what in the name of God do you think you are doing?”
He looked up, but didn’t stop rising up and down on his arms. “Tamsin, please don’t take the name of the Lord in vain and I think you can identify pushups.”
Baker shook her head. “Why are you doing them?”
“Victoria is hoping that calisthenics will take my mind off of current events and so tried to trick me into doing PT with the argument that I am out of shape.”
“He is,” Victoria said with a smile. “I think he’s managed to put on a couple of extra millimeters of fat since we came to Glasgow. We can’t have that, now can we?” Behind her, Ceres covered her mouth to hide her smile.
Ciaran stopped in the up position to look at Baker. “She’s wrong, but I don’t have anything else to do right now and getting stronger is never a bad goal when pokegirls are involved.”
“Well you have to stop.”
Victoria looked from her to Libby. “Why?”
“We’ve been summoned.”
Ciaran sighed and climbed to his feet. “Don’t they ever run out of questions to ask?”
“They’re too well hydrated,” Elsa commented wryly. “If we keep them away from water they’ll become too thirsty to speak.”
“Somehow I don’t see that as being easy to do. Not to mention, if we did it too well, some of them would die from lack of water.”
The Mazouku shrugged. “Only the weak ones. We would be improving the overall strength of the British Army.”
Ciaran managed not to smile. “Tamsin, what time do we need to be there? If I can, I would like to clean up first.”
“The meeting isn’t until one. We’re meeting at Army headquarters, which is a good fifteen minute walk, though, so you have only got a half hour to get ready.”
“And if Eliana carries us there?”
Baker shrugged. “You know they don’t like lateness. Just keep that in mind.”
“I will. Are you going to be waiting for us?”
“Of course I am.”
“Then let’s get going.”
They showed up more than early enough to satisfy Baker’s proclivity towards being timely. It also meant they got to wait for nearly twenty minutes before their appointment was scheduled to begin.
Finally the door to the office opened and a grizzled looking sergeant looked at them. “Mr. Sullivan, Lieutenant Baker,” he paused and his face set unhappily. “I am afraid I do not know the names of your pokegirls, but everyone is to enter and be seated.”
Baker looked startled. She gave Ciaran a quick glance before turning to Libby. “You are not to speak unless spoken to.”
The Nekomata nodded solemnly. “Yes, lieutenant.”
Ceres shook her head and looked at Eliana. “Remember your manners. Say nothing that could be construed as a death threat.”
The Samhain grinned for a heartbeat. “I’ll be polite. I’ll let Ciaran or you speak for me.”
“Thank you,” the Tantrasaur replied.
The sergeant was staring at them and Ciaran chuckled. “I know. You’re not used to it.” He made a gentle ushering motion. “Baker and Libby go first and then my ladies.”
Ciaran was surprised to see the major he’d talked to yesterday. She was seated behind a desk facing the chairs and was today wearing a suit instead of a uniform. Years ago, his mother, Martha, who was a thrifty woman, had given him a long lecture on the quality and durability of good suits versus cheap ones, and the major’s suit showed every sign of being of high quality indeed. He also didn’t miss Victoria’s reaction when she saw the major. She stiffened and started to look back at him before stopping herself and sitting quietly in her chair. Lieutenant Baker shot him a glance as he passed her on the way to his seat. She was trying to convey some kind of message in her stare, but he didn’t know her well enough to read it.
The major watched them until they were seated and the sergeant had taken up position next to the door and a very near human pokegirl who seemed to radiate waves of power. Ciaran’s twee identified her as an Enchantress. The major smiled welcomingly at them all. “Mr. Sullivan, Lieutenant Baker,” she inclined her head at the pokegirls, “ladies as well, I bid you all a good afternoon.”
Baker bobbed her head in a bow. “Your Royal Highness.”
Ciaran kept his face still. Is she right?
Yes, that is Her Royal Highness Princess Zara and heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain. She holds the rank of major in the British Army.
You didn’t tell me who she was yesterday.
I wasn’t asked to see if I could find out who she is yesterday. You just asked me to and I did. Do you really want me to attempt to identify everyone you see and then tell you if they’re someone important or famous? Most of them are not going to be important or famous to you no matter what others might think about them.
No, not really.
I didn’t think so. The question is now why is she meeting with you?
Ciaran gave a mental nod. That indeed was the question. “I bid you a good afternoon in return. I was under the impression that this was another debriefing about what happened a few days ago.”
The princess shook her head. “Your impression is incorrect, Mr. Sullivan, at least in part. This is not a debriefing, but it is about what you, Lieutenant Baker and your pokegirls did in Cairnryan and later on the ferryboats.” She smiled again. “The Queen asked me to do this so you would understand the depth of our gratitude for what you have accomplished.” She paused for a moment, as if to see if anyone had something to say before continuing. “Mr. Sullivan, you are not a member of Her Majesty’s armed forces and, in fact, you are not even a citizen of our kingdom. And yet, you and Lieutenant Baker unhesitatingly set yourselves against a far superior force in order to protect British citizens and property.” Eliana muttered something and she paused again as Elsa smiled broadly. “Yes?”
Eliana blinked and looked at Ceres, who shrugged. “She asked you to repeat what you just said.”
The Samhain grinned. “They weren’t superior at all. Ciaran is very smart and we’re good fighters. There were just a lot of them, but not nearly enough.”
Zara laughed. “I can say that the evidence of the truth of that statement sits in front me.” Her smile faded. “What all of you did was extraordinary. Yes, the plan was Mr. Sullivan’s but all of you had roles in that plan and all of you performed those roles to perfection, which was critical because if any of those roles had failed, your plan would have failed and the Blues would have either sailed on to here or put ashore where you’d crippled their vessels.”
Ciaran started to protest but she was right. “We had no choice but to succeed. Whether they could hold the city or not the plans they had for Glasgow were terrible.” He glanced at Baker. “And then there was the lieutenant’s pesky little oath to protect Great Britain. She was determined to stop them and I couldn’t well leave my liaison behind.”
Zara’s face became solemn. “Considering that I live here in Glasgow, I personally appreciate you stymying those plans. My mother also wishes to reward you for your actions. To that end, Lieutenant Baker is hereby promoted to captain. She has the seniority for it and has shown the prerequisite leadership ability.”
“Thank you, lady,” Baker said.
“I am not done yet,” Zara replied. “After confirming your service in the Texas Defense Forces and because Texas is nominally one of our allies, Mr. Sullivan, it was decided that both you and Captain Baker had earned medals.”
Ciaran blinked. “I am not in the TDF.”
“Yes, you are,” Zara said in an amused tone.” You trained with them at one of their recruit training facilities not far from your home in 2002. You completed that training and are carried on the Texas Defense Forces roster as a corporal.”
Ciaran stared at her for several seconds until Victoria nudged him. “Can you explain this?”
“I can’t believe he actually did it. I thought he was joshing me.”
The Angel cocked her head. “What is joshing?”
He blinked again. “I’m sorry, it was more American slang. When I finished the training the commander told me that now I was one of them and he was going to list me on the TDF’s roster. I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of that idea, which I didn’t like, and left. I just went there to pick up the survival training and to get more information on pokegirls. Before I did leave the camp, he told me that he was still going to list me. I never believed he’d actually do it. I thought he said that just to aggravate me.”
“Apparently,” Zara said,” he did do what he said he would. It means that you and the captain are eligible for and shall both receive the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.” Baker gasped softly. “It was approved at the highest levels and will be awarded when the processing is complete.” She looked directly into Ciaran’s eyes. “You should know that our talk yesterday left an impression on me. I am going to speak to my mother about making medals and other awards available for pokegirls as well, and I believe she may be sympathetic to the concept. Yours and the captain’s would have certainly deserved at the Military Cross or other decorations for their actions that day.” She leaned back in her chair. “I will also discuss your suggestions about our treatment of pokegirls to her, although I can promise you nothing. Still, I believe your concerns have merit and should be considered.” She looked at him expectantly.
“I understand,” he said. “Thank you.”
She nodded briskly. “In addition, my mother has expressed an interest in meeting you, Mr. Sullivan. She understands that you are continuing on to Ireland and has no desire to interfere with your plans, but she has asked that you return to Edinburgh before leaving the Isles entirely.”
“I will try to do so,” Ciaran replied.
“He will be honored to do so,” Victoria stated flatly. “And we will make sure he does as you are requesting.”
Ciaran looked at Victoria, who stared evenly back at him. It wasn’t worth the fight, he decided. “So, ma’am, who do I contact when I get to Edinburgh to arrange for this meeting that Her Majesty requests of me?”
“My sergeant will give you the information you need,” Princess Zara replied. “Captain Baker, you will be expected to call upon Her Majesty as well. We understand that you’re busy with Mr. Sullivan here and won’t be able to get to Edinburgh in the near future.”
Baker nodded. “I will do so as soon as my duties allow, ma’am.”
“We expect no less from you, captain.” Zara glanced up as the sergeant cleared his throat softly. “I am afraid that I have an appointment that I must keep. I want to thank all of you for what you did. I personally and my government owe you a debt we will never be able to repay. Thank you, Ciaran, Tamsin and you ladies.” She rose smoothly, quickly followed by Baker and then everyone else. “Sergeant Emmerson will see you out.”
She quickly exited through a side door as the sergeant came forward with a smile. “Come this way, please.”
A few minutes later they were outside. Ciaran looked at Baker. “Did you know that was coming?”
Baker shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”
Victoria grinned at her. “Isn’t there a tradition that when you get promoted you’re buying the drinks?”
Baker laughed. “There is. Now if you can locate us a decent pub I will cheerfully do so.”
“We will begin the hunt immediately,” Elsa announced. She pointed down the street. “I smell alcohol in this direction.”
“I think it would be better if we bought a couple of bottles to take back to our quarters,” Ciaran said. “I doubt the girls will be allowed to drink with us in a Glasgow pub.” He smiled slightly. “And it’s probably for the best. I think a few drinks are fine, but I don’t want to be around drunk pokegirls, flammable liquids and wooden structures. By themselves it might not be too bad, but add drunken Scots into the mix and,” he shrugged.
Baker laughed again. “I can see that happening. I know where we can get some Scotch.”
09/09/09 1430 Cairnryan, Scotland
Karen Woolsey opened the door to Elsa’s knock and stared at her. The woman’s face was still, but Elsa had seen fear in other people’s eyes too often not to recognize it in Woolsey’s. Finally she spoke. “Yes?”
Elsa smiled broadly. “We came with the relief expedition and we were wondering if, it’s not too much bother, could we stay with you for two days or so?”
Karen’s eyes were wide and she shook her head frantically. “Yes, that would be nice. I’ve been looking forward to helping the UK reestablish control of Cairnryan.”
Elsa’s ears flattened. She held up one hand, with one finger held out. “Ok, I’ll let my tamer know.” A second finger rose and Karen nodded once. “I need to go tell him, so you will have a few minutes to start cleaning your guest room.” She held up a third finger and Karen shook her head again. Ceres, I think Karen is telling me that there are a couple of Blue soldiers hiding in her house. They’d been practicing with their twees since the visit with Princess Zara. Victoria had mentally panicked so much when she’d realized who was sitting behind the desk that she hadn’t thought to use her twee to warn the rest of her family and Ceres was determined that something like that wouldn’t happen again.
Do you need backup? Elsa was amused that the thought had overtones of Ceres’s voice and wondered if it was truly the way that she thought or if her twee injected the feeling so its host could identify the sender just as if it were a normal conversation.
It is the latter reason. It is faster than having to say ‘Ceres says’ at the beginning of her messages.
Elsa smiled to herself. No, I think there are only two of them. If I need help clearing the house I’ll retreat and inform you immediately. Her head lifted and she sniffed the air as her ears rotated for an instant. Then she was in motion. To her senses, Karen almost seemed to stand still as the Mazouku slid past her using her enhanced speed. She certainly would never have had time to evade Elsa if she were attacking. Then she focused on the matter at hand and Karen’s presence or even existence became irrelevant.
Elsa knew that the entrance room was already empty or Karen would not have been able to give silent warning signals without being seen. That left two choices to decide between; the kitchen or upstairs.
She’d heard the theory that humans had evolved from creatures that lived in trees, and their decided habit of going up inside a building when threatened gave that idea credence. That behavior suggested they’d be upstairs. Besides, if they were in the kitchen, going upstairs would put them off their guard until she’d cleared the upper floor. Then she could go out a window and enter the kitchen from the back door while they were focused on either the stairs, fleeing or punishing Woolsey for giving a warning. She didn’t really care which scenario occurred either, since she didn’t get hurt in any of them.
The stairway going upstairs lay to the right just before you entered the kitchen. Moving faster than a human gave her momentum, which since she needed to change direction quickly, became inertia. Even if her feet had been bare instead of being covered by her sandals, there was nothing to dig her claws into that would have stopped her in time to keep her from slamming into the entrance of the stairwell.
Instead, she slapped the wall with her open left hand just before she’d have hit it. This let her turn her velocity towards the stairwell without punching through the wall itself and trapping her hand or skidding to a halt. A soldier stood at the top of the stairs, his eyes wide and his rifle extended but not aimed directly at her as she appeared in his sight.
Even now they don’t really understand how fast we can move. Elsa hit him with a lightning bolt, but deliberately limited the power of the attack so as not to kill him. Then she blurred up the stairs as he flew backwards to hit the wall and bounce towards her again, the rifle spinning away down the hall to her right. He was still recoiling from the wall when she came within arm’s reach of him.
Her claws slid out to their full length and then retracted again just before impact as it occurred to her that gutting him would most likely mean she’d get instructed by Ciaran to clean up the mess. Instead she punched him in the chest, almost shivering at the pleasure that rippled through her at feeling bone cracking under her hands. The soldier grunted a fine mist of blood on her as shattered ribs shredded his lungs and heart.
Elsa spun to the right to face down the hallway leading away from the stairs. A soldier stood at the end of the hall, his rifle lifting into position. Her left hand gripped the dying one’s uniform and prepared to hurl him ahead of her to soak up bullets as she tensed for the charge. Then the soldier tossed his rifle away as if it were on fire and raised both hands into the air.
Elsa stared at him in shock for a second. Then her ears went completely flat. “Pick it up,” she hissed. His head shook wildly in a negative and her eyes went flat. “Pick it up,” she repeated in a louder voice. He only backed farther down the hall. “PICK UP THAT FUCKING RIFLE SO I CAN KILL YOU!” Suddenly the air stank of urine.
“Language,” came from Victoria as she headed up the stairs behind Elsa.
The soldier Elsa was holding coughed once and the Mazouku absently snapped his neck with one hand before dropping him. “That son of a,” she paused and gestured towards the cowering soldier with the sodden pants, “he won’t fight.”
“Sometimes they don’t. And Ciaran won’t want you to kill him if he doesn’t,” Victoria said. She shook her head when Elsa gave her an inquiring look. “He will see the scene and he will ask and I will not lie to him when he does.”
Elsa scowled. “Why won’t the universe let me have a little fun once in a while?”
Victoria grinned. “Are those sounds of pain I hear from you when you’re with Ciaran?” Elsa just growled and turned to go back downstairs. “Elsa.” The Mazouku paused and Victoria gestured at the body. “Take that down with you. I’ll take the other one prisoner.”
Elsa shot her a look and knelt by the body. She pulled the corpse’s shirt up to encase his head and stood, lifting the body with her.
“What is that for?”
Elsa snorted. “He leaks and I don’t feel like cleaning.” Then she clumped down the stairs, stopping at the bottom to call back up to the Angel. “I claim my kill’s rifle and other possessions.”
“That’s between you and Ciaran,” Victoria replied loudly. Her voice changed. “No, don’t lie down on the rug, you idiot. You’re covered in piss. Just stand there on the wooden floor and try not to puddle.” Elsa snickered once and nodded to a wide eyed Woolsey before going outside.
Once outside she looked at Ceres. “Where do I put this?”
“Drop it next to the street outside the gate for the Royals to collect.” The Tantrasaur was busy trying to look in every direction at once. Baker was off with the Royals and even with Eliana guarding Ciaran, Ceres wasn’t happy with the security situation since there were Blue holdouts hiding in many of the houses. Several of them had taken to sniping at the Royal forces in an attempt to make their death or capture have some military significance. If by military significance they meant that the Royals didn’t try to take any prisoners when one of their own was shot, the attempt could be considered a success. Ciaran wasn’t wearing a uniform, but he was obviously a tamer and therefore some of them would consider him a valid target. “Then take over guarding Ciaran and send Eliana to me.”
“With pleasure.” Elsa had been more than slightly conflicted when she’d been instructed to let Eliana guard Ciaran while she cleared the house. She didn’t want to leave him, but she did want the chance to kill someone. However, she agreed with Ceres’ assessment that Eliana didn’t understand any other level of power in an attack than full power, and it was much easier to stay in someone’s house if it was still standing.
She tossed the corpse down outside the gate and joined Ciaran and Eliana. “Ceres wants you,” she said to the Samhain. “I don’t know what for.”
Inside the house, Victoria came downstairs and stopped in front of Woolsey. “I’ve restrained the other Blue. I’ll bring him down in a minute, but I wanted to check on you first. How are you doing?”
Woolsey took a deep breath. “I am better now that the government has retaken Cairnryan from the rebels. You kept your promise and I am grateful for that.”
“We tend to keep promises we make,” Victoria replied with a smile. “Ciaran is a good man about that sort of thing. And Elsa was serious about her request. We need a place to stay for a couple of days and we’d like to stay here if you’ll allow it.”
“Who is Ciaran?”
Victoria blinked. “That’s right; you don’t know his real name. Major Culpepper’s real name is Ciaran Sullivan. He was using an alias the last time in order to allow me to have a last name that was different from his.”
“You’re not a sergeant, are you?”
“Captain Baker and Ciaran are the only two people you’d call human in our group. I am one of Ciaran’s pokegirls and I’m a civilian now. I masqueraded as a Blue soldier because under Blue regulations Ciaran would have lost two of his girls and he’d have fought to the death before allowing that to happen to us. My name is Victoria.”
Woolsey frowned. “You are a civilian now? Does that mean you weren’t before?”
“The pokegirl armies had ranks too, and I was an officer then.” She held up a hand when Woolsey opened her mouth once more. “That time is over and I prefer not to discuss it, possibly ever again. I am not proud of some of the things I did then. I have a life I like a lot better now that I am with Ciaran and with him I don’t spend sleepless nights wondering if I am serving someone worthy of my loyalty.”
“I have heard that the lord mayor is going to announce that the Royal forces will be billeted with the citizens of Cairnryan,” Woolsey said. “You are a known quality and I am not afraid of you, Baker and Culpepper or whatever name he is using now. All of you may stay with me while you are here.”
“Thank you, Miss Woolsey. I will let Sullivan know of your decision as soon as I remove the prisoner from your home.” She frowned. “Do you have an old towel that I might borrow? The prisoner upstairs peed himself and he’s left a puddle that will need cleaned up.”
Woolsey blinked and then smiled coldly. “Did he? Good.” She glanced upwards. “I wonder if I could have a few minutes alone with Corporal Danielson.”
“I believe you’d need more than one towel for that,” Victoria said quietly. “Did he harm you?”
“He was planning to. He told me in graphic detail what he was going to do to me and he put his hands on me to demonstrate. Only the arrival of the Royals gave him something else to be concerned about.”
Victoria eyed her for a few seconds. “I’m sorry you don’t have a towel I can use. I think I may have one in my gear. I’ll have to go and fetch it. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave the corporal alone for a few minutes but that can’t be helped. He’s tied up so he shouldn’t be able to cause you any trouble.” Her eyes met Woolsey’s. “Don’t use a knife from the kitchen. It’ll get bloody and you will lose your grip on it. You will slice yourself open when that happens. Use a hunting knife or a screwdriver.” She stepped around Woolsey and went outside.
Ceres frowned as Victoria headed past her. “I thought there were two Blues inside. Where is the other one?”
“Elsa scared him into urinating inside his clothing. I don’t want him dripping throughout the entire house when I bring him outside so I need a towel to clean him up a bit before I do.” A drawn out scream sounded from inside the house. “Oh, dear, it sounds like the corporal has suffered a mischief.” The scream trailed off quickly. “I may not need that towel after all.”
Ceres was looking at the house. “What did you do?”
“Ms. Woolsey wanted a moment with the corporal.” Victoria shrugged. “She told me why and I couldn’t deny it to her.”
“Go see what’s happened. I’ll keep Ciaran outside as long as I can.” The Tantrasaur looked over her shoulder at Ciaran, who was watching the house with a curious expression. “And make sure that woman isn’t going to try to do that to him now that she’s gotten a taste for blood. We don’t have to stay here.”
“I will,” Victoria replied.
Woolsey was sitting next to the corporal’s body, her torso heaving like she’d just run a marathon and her hands still wrapped around the pruning scissors buried in the corporal’s chest. He’d been stabbed at least a dozen times and blood spatter covered Woolsey, the floor, walls and ceiling around her. Victoria eased a few steps towards her and spoke in a quiet, calm and even tone. “Miss Woolsey?” No response. “Miss Woolsey?” Again, there was no response. Victoria licked her lips. “Karen?” Woolsey lifted her head and turned it to look down the hall at her. Victoria saw rage in her eyes, but no madness and a vast weight lifted from her shoulders. “Karen, let go of the weapon.” Woolsey twitched and sat upright, her hands falling away from the scissors. “You need to go clean up. Don’t worry about this; I’ll take care of it.”
Woolsey nodded and slowly climbed to her feet before turning and shambling towards the bathroom.
Victoria looked at the mess that had once been a Blue soldier. Ceres, Woolsey was more enthusiastic than I had expected. I need help with this.
I had sent Eliana to find Baker and let her know where we’d be staying, but I have recalled her. I’ll get Ciaran settled in downstairs and we’ll be up to assist you.
09/09/09 1730 Cairnryan, Scotland
Baker paused outside the Woolsey house and eyed the two bodies lying in the street before heading up to the door and knocking while Libby kept an eye on their surroundings. She almost sagged with relief when Eliana opened the door. “I was hopeful that you would be here.”
The Samhain smiled slightly as she stepped aside to let them enter. “We are. You should not have left us. It is much easier to find something that you have not abandoned.”
Baker decided to ignore the jibe. “Where is Ciaran?”
“He is in the kitchen.”
Baker paused in the entrance to the kitchen. Woolsey was sitting at the table with Victoria and staring into a mug while Ciaran was frying up something that smelled a lot better than what Tamsin had had with her fellow officers. “I was wondering where you’d gotten off too.”
He looked up. “It’s good to see you too, Tamsin. Have you and Libby eaten?”
“I have, but Libby still needs to.” She motioned towards the table. “Go ahead, Libby.”
“Thank you, mistress.”
Baker frowned and moved closer to Ciaran so she could speak in a low voice. “Is something wrong with Woolsey?” Out of her sight, Woolsey flinched slightly. Victoria wrapped an arm around her in a quick hug that got her a grateful smile.
He glanced at her before returning to the steaks. “Nothing that shouldn’t be expected considering that the corpses outside were once soldiers inside her house holding her hostage. She cleverly managed to inform us about their presence inside her house without managing to warn them and we got eliminated the threat to her. You might want to pass along that the Royals really need to focus on clearing the houses before they settle in. No matter how stretched your forces might be if the remaining Blues murder more villagers because the Royals aren’t actively removing Blue soldiers it could look very bad for the general and his people.”
Victoria looked up, aware that Woolsey was matching her gaze at Ciaran. You’re not going to tell her that Karen murdered a prisoner we had in custody?
I’m Irish and I’m Texan, remember? We settle our own scores and he had it coming. So we killed him when we cleared the house and that’s that.
I should have killed him when I had the chance. That was from Elsa.
It was best for Karen that things happened the way they did. She’ll be stronger for having gotten revenge on her abuser. Ciaran looked up again. “We decided that you and Libby will be in the same room you were in before, if you want to go freshen up.”
“I will,” Baker said as she looked at Libby, who hadn’t moved away from her. “Are you going to stay here and eat?”
Libby shook her head. “I would like to wash first, mistress.”
“Good. Let us be off then.”
Woolsey waited until Baker and Libby were up the stairs before speaking in a soft voice. “Why didn’t you tell her what I did? I am ready to face my punishment.”
Ciaran turned and leveled a finger at her. “Karen, you warned us about them and may have saved the life of one of my family today. You didn’t do anything wrong and you have nothing to feel guilty about. There is nothing to tell.” He smiled suddenly. “And if you fall on your sword now you’ll just get me into trouble.”
“Thank you.” Woolsey looked into his eyes. “I can never repay what you did today. You are welcome to stay here as long as you want.”
Ciaran nodded gravely. “I appreciate that, but we won’t stay any longer than we have to.” He looked at Elsa. “How long would it take for you to teach Victoria how to teleport?”
Elsa’s ears flicked as she gave the Angel an appraising glance. “It shouldn’t take more than a few days. Why?”
“I don’t want you flying to Ireland alone. Two of you can protect each other during the trip.”
Elsa started to say something and paused before nodding. “I’ll start her lessons in the morning.”
“That’s it,” asked Eliana.
“I want to disagree with him about the danger, but he is right to be concerned for my well-being. If I am incapacitated in the initial attack I cannot teleport to safety. If I am killed immediately he’d never know what happened to me, either, and that’s unacceptable. Victoria is the only other flying girl and I’m not going to do slow circles while waiting for you or Ceres to try to swim to Ireland.” She looked at Ciaran. “Are we keeping the lessons from Tamsin?”
Ciaran shrugged. “Can we?”
“I can take Victoria outside of town for the lessons and she can go into her pokeball when I teleport back from Ireland so Tamsin is unaware of her new ability.” She frowned. “We will need a reason to be out there alone.”
“I can take you to meet the people who hid from the Blues,” Woolsey announced unexpectedly. “They need to know that the Royals control the village again. You can be guarding me for the trip. Their camp is two days away from here on foot.”
“Isn’t that something for the Royal authorities to do?” Victoria shrugged when Ciaran looked at her in surprise. “You are not a Royal and therefore not subject to their command hierarchy, but if we meddle in things that General Milne or one of his subordinates thinks are military in nature and we should stay away from, it could become difficult for us.”
“I am not subject to their command hierarchy either,” Woolsey stated firmly. “I do not know General Milne and I will not lead anyone I do not trust to the people I am responsible for. I trust you.”
Ciaran exchanged a look with Ceres, Elsa and Victoria. “It sounds like we will be forced to meddle whether we want to or not. I’ll speak to Milne in the morning and see if I can’t get his blessing for this little mission.”
“He should be willing to let us carry it out,” Elsa said. “His attention has too many other things to dwell on. Militarily he will be focused on securing the village and clearing out the last of the Blues. Politically, he will want to locate and release the Irish prisoners without additional harm in order to do what he can to placate the Irish government for the loss of two irreplaceable modern ships at a Royal port. I do not think he has even considered the existence of a local resistance force or would consider it relevant if he did.”
Karen smiled coldly. “Then he will have to recognize us, for we have the Irish.”
Elsa’s eyes widened. “You do?”
“When it became evident that the Blue operation had suffered some kind of major setback, the Blue troops here began to panic. We took advantage of the confusion to rescue some prisoners that were slated for execution. The Irish were being held with them and they were taken away as well.” Woolsey gave Ciaran a curious look. “Can you tell me what you did to the Blues?”
“That’s right, you don’t know. We waited until we were very far from land and sank both vessels. Less than one in five people of the entire force survived to be rescued by the Royals.”
“What happened to Breckenridge?”
Ciaran had seen a list of the survivors and could answer the question. “He was not one of the POWs they recovered.”
“It will have to be sufficient, even if it was a better death than he deserved.”
Ciaran sighed. “Elsa, go see if Tamsin is available to speak with me. If he’s looking for the Irish prisoners I need to speak to Milne today and she’s the best conduit to him.” He looked at Woolsey. “Karen, will you talk to General Milne with me?”
“I would prefer not to. Elsa was not entirely correct when she said that the Royals would not be interested in the existence of a group of partisans. They might very well see our presence as a violation of Royal law and would probably wish to disband us.”
Victoria smiled suddenly. “You have pokegirls, don’t you?” Woolsey’s gave her a wary look and her smile vanished. “I’m not trying to catch you in a violation of Royal law. I was merely making an educated deduction about your situation.” She looked at Ciaran. “If they do have pokegirls then either the girls would be confiscated by the Royals or the partisans themselves conscripted into the Royal military.”
“I know and we’re not giving them up. We’re also not going to reveal what we know to Milne,” Ciaran assured her. “You said you trust us, and you can trust us not to admit to the Royals something that might harm you.” He chuckled. “I didn’t save your life from the Blues just to give it to the Royals.”
Ceres returned. “Tamsin and Libby will be along in a few minutes.” She looked at Ciaran. “What is our plan?”
“We use Tamsin to talk to Milne and tell him we can get the Irish prisoners back. Then we go get them. While we’re gone, Elsa can teach Victoria while you, Eliana and I protect Karen.”
“Tamsin will want to come with us,” Victoria said.
“I am only taking you and your women,” she paused and looked at Victoria questioningly.
“Ciaran,” the Angel supplied helpfully.
“Thank you. I am only taking you and your women, Ciaran.”
“She’s going to want to argue that point. Will you talk to her?”
“No.”
Libby came into the kitchen. “Can I have some tea?” She looked around the room. “What are you discussing?”
Elsa grinned. “Is Tamsin one of Ciaran’s women?”
Libby’s ears flattened for a heartbeat. “No, she is not.”
“Thank you. That’s all we needed to know.”
Ciaran shook his head and offered the Nekomata a cup of tea as her eyes narrowed angrily. “When Tamsin gets here I’ll explain. It’s not that you don’t need to know, it’s just I don’t feel like telling this more than I have to. I’ve already got to tell it you, her and Milne as it is and it’s likely that no one involved will be happy with what I’ve got to say.”
“You need to speak to the general?” Baker got herself some tea and sat down next to Libby. “What for?”
“Has Milne found the Irish ferry operators yet?”
Baker shook her head. “No and he’s got men tearing the village apart to find them. Why?”
Ciaran grimaced. “The short version of this story is that he’s not likely going to be able to find the Irish prisoners and I know how to.”
Baker almost slopped tea on herself as she stared at him, the cup forgotten in her hand. “How did you manage to involve yourself in the situation with the Irish?”
“It was by accident, but involved I am.”
“Where are they?”
“I’m not exactly sure, but I think I know who has them.” When she just looked at him expectantly, he shrugged. “When the Blues took this village some people escaped into the wilderness and took up arms against them. After we sank the ferry boats, they took the opportunity in the chaos which ensued here to rescue some of their compatriots who had been captured. The Irish were liberated as well and went with them. Now they’re all in hiding somewhere,” he waved an arm, “out there. When they’re told that the Royals are back in control, they should let the Irish come back here.”
“How do you know this?”
“I spoke with one of the partisans today and he explained what had taken place. He’s willing to lead me and my ladies out so we can escort the Irish safely back.”
“How is it that you know one of these people?”
“When we were trapped here waiting for the invasion they discovered I wasn’t a Blue and made contact to see if I could help liberate Cairnryan. He made contact again today and let me know that they had rescued the Irish sailors.”
“Why can’t the general send someone to fetch the Irish?”
“Apparently they have trust issues,” Ciaran said, “and I was told that they trust me and not the general.”
“Why do they trust you over us?”
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure.”
Baker frowned. “I want to talk to your contact.”
“I asked my contact to talk to you and he indicated that he wasn’t interested in talking to anyone but me.”
“Why on earth not?”
“The Royals knew Cairnryan wasn’t properly garrisoned,” Victoria said. “And the people of Cairnryan knew your government knew this. They see that if your government had done a better job of protecting them then the Blues would never have tried to take the village. They feel that your government has broken faith with them and therefore is no longer worthy of their trust.”
“Victoria is correct,” Woolsey said abruptly. “That is why I was not going to let anyone stay here until Ciaran asked if he could.” She fixed Baker with a glare. “You abandoned us and left us to the tender mercies of the Blues. Well, they don’t have any!” Her head jerked towards Ciaran. “He told us he would stop the Blues and he did. He brought your army back to free us, too.” That wasn’t exactly true, but Ciaran was smart enough not to interrupt a woman in mid rant. “I told people what he said he’d do and they laughed because we have been betrayed before. You know this isn’t the first time the Blues have been here. It’s the third! But we’re not important enough for a proper garrison so my parents and a lot of other people are dead because of your government! Many other members of this village feel the same way about the Royals, too!”
Ciaran put a hand on Woolsey’s shoulder and the woman jumped. “Tamsin didn’t do this, Karen. She had no hand in the decisions which left Cairnryan undefended. But I will suggest to General Milne that he correct that deficiency.”
“Thank you, Ciaran.”
He looked at Baker. “I thought I’d speak to the general and let him know the Irish should be safe. I’d also want to get permission to go and get them without having some scouts following me.” He raised a hand before she could speak. “I promise I won’t go haring off into the wilderness without my liaison. I will come back for you.” He smiled disarmingly. “I need your contacts to finish part of my job, remember?”
Baker nodded and looked at Karen. “Can I stay here with you while he’s gone?” Ciaran managed not to look surprised. He hadn’t considered this potential issue.
“You can stay here,” Karen answered.
She probably realizes that she cannot keep her involvement with the partisans secret forever, Ceres said through her twee. If nothing else it is likely that others in this village know of her affiliations. Take Victoria and Elsa to your meeting with the general and I’ll talk to Karen about the details while you’re gone.
Ciaran nodded unconsciously. “Tamsin, when can I see the general?”
Baker finished her tea and motioned for Libby to do the same. “I believe that if we hurry we should be able to speak with him immediately.” She rose. “Shall we go?”
Ciaran Sullivan
Victoria – Angel
Eliana – Samhain
Ceres – Tantrasaur
Elsa – Mazouku