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Loose Threads
One Hundred Fifteen
Year One Hundred
Iain’s face glowed amber in the reflected light as he worked at the holographic display that floated in the air in front of him. Inside it hung an array of interconnected beads of red, green, blue and white. A second display to his right showed an image of a raptor from one of the Arks he’d visited a long time ago. To Iain’s left floated a third display filled with words in elven.
He reached into the center display and touched a green bead. “Cytosine and process.” The bead turned red and other beads changed color as well in a small cascade down the image. The words in the left display changed in a cascade that matched the color changes in the center one while, in the right display, the raptor turned pale magenta.
He stared at the center display for a few minutes. “Ok,” he muttered, “that’s why they did it that way.” He frowned. “But if that’s true, then why,” he shifted to the left display and scrolled upwards. “They should have known that the obvious result would have been,” he broke off and reached out to an empty platter. His head came up. “I’m out of cheese?” He looked at a water clock that was set up near the doorway to the room. “Fuck, it’s time to emerge from my hideaway.”
You still have four minutes before I am supposed to inform you, his twee said.
“And all I can do in that time is absolutely nothing.” He sighed. “Save and shut down.” Blue lights flashed above each display for a second before the displays went dark. The empty platter rose into the air and followed him as he left the room, shutting and locking the door.
Then he plucked the platter from the air and headed down the hallway. Without warning, a slow bell began sounding in his head, quickly followed by the beginning chords of Hells Bells. I wanted to be first and only to wish you a happy century, his twee said.
Iain entered the portal room as he chuckled. “Why AC/DC for the anniversary announcement?”
You’ve always liked the band and you haven’t pulled up its music to play yet.
“That would be because I’d have to explain the lyrics to a lot of the songs and the conversations to put things into the proper context would take forever, and would probably have to be repeated after each individual song to almost every person who heard it for the first time.”
That is your fault. You started the problem up by explaining some of the context to some songs before you played them and it has led some people to think that every song from your past has hidden meanings.
Iain touched a sapphire embedded in the wall and a portal opened in the center of the room. “I am well aware of how much I fucked that up.” He stepped through the portal into the arrival room in the valley complex. “Download the music I remember to my phone and I’ll listen to it during my next free time to see if I want to play it for other people or just for myself.”
Is that even possible? You know that Eilistraee listens when you play even if she’s not around. It’s the only possibility that can explain how she often asks you to play songs you haven’t played for anyone here when she’s come to visit, usually with at least Zilvra in attendance to tell the others you’ve got new songs to perform.
“For all we know, the gods might have access to music from Earth.”
She does. Through you.
Iain chuckled. “Yeah, I’m going to have to ask her to stop doing that.” He opened the door and paused to let a group of chatting kobolds go by before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door. “It won’t change anything, but at least I’ll have another request for it on record when I finally tell her to pound salt.” He stopped at the closest dining hall to drop off the platter to be cleaned and returned to storage before heading outside to the greenhouses.
There were now twenty greenhouses, some on the surface but most underground where lighting, temperature and humidity could be controlled to a much greater degree. That and Iain had been trying for several years to spoil the valley as little as possible, so placing greenhouses underground had made sense, even with the extra work involved with putting them in. He’d recently given up on that, but it was only because he’d realized it was never going to happen, not with the way things were going in the clan. He still held a hope that one day he could return the valley to a more pristine state, but that day would be many years in the future.
The twenty seven years since the death of the king of Keltormir had resulted in considerable changes because of the heavy handed rule of Raloric, and the clan had ended up taking in a growing number of political refugees from the forests around the mountain. One of the results of that absorption was the establishment of a group of druids to help take care of the greenhouses and the medicinal herbs and spices that they produced.
It was also the reason that there was now a neatly organized village of green and moon elves in the valley, along with a smattering of drow, dwarves and other clan members who wanted to live completely above ground. Iain’s only ironclad rule about the refugees was that, after three months they either had to become clan or move on, albeit with plenty of assistance from the clan’s resources if they chose that path.
One of the druids motioned to get his attention as he opened the door to a greenhouse, so he paused while she approached. “Good morning, Iain,” she said. “We’ve been asked by our leader to let you know that the annoying member who was haranguing you about how the greenhouses upset the balance of nature by allowing the growth of plants out of season has been reassigned to the omega tree area.” She smiled. “I’m not sure what the unicorns, treants and dryads have done to deserve his company, but I’m just glad he’s no longer here.”
Iain grinned at her for a second. “Well, between me and you, I agree with you. I don’t understand why he decided to become clan, but I’ll treasure his presence while not really liking him as a person.”
The druid laughed. “He stayed to fix us, of course. We’re upsetting the balance and he intends to make sure we stop doing that.”
“Is he the only druid who doesn’t like the greenhouses?”
“There are a few who are still discussing it, but most of us agree that the greenhouses are no more disruptive than a house and you have been careful to minimize just how disruptive they really are.” Her smile grew. “And your,” she paused. “What did you call your plow again?”
“It’s a no-till seed drill,” Iain replied.
“It is a marvel. A plow that doesn’t tear up the ground like a moldboard does is remarkable. Where did you acquire it from?”
“The kobolds are making them. We’re not selling them, but we are using them for the crops here in the valley.”
In Texas, a lot of small farmers using quadrupedal pokegirls or horses still wanted to try to go no-till for the benefits to the soil and the crop. Catherine McCoy had approached Iain about possible solutions to this problem and he’d done some research. He’d found a farm supply company in what used to be Pennsylvania that had supplied small seed drills suitable for horse drawn use under the brand name Esch that was still in business. He’d contacted them and licensed the rights to produce the Esch 5605 and 5603 seed drills in Texas. The license wasn’t cheap, but they were so popular that Catherine couldn’t keep them in stock. Amusingly enough, a small number of units sold by her and her salespeople across the state were showing up in Sunshine, Indigo and Johto.
After all, people everywhere had to eat. And no, nobody involved in the transaction had bothered to notify the league governments about the business arrangement.
It did mean that Iain had agents working for Catherine in the areas around Texas whose job, among other things, was to make sure that someone wasn’t making knockoffs of the seed drills and depriving Grey and Esch of business. They fortunately hadn’t found anyone doing that. Yet.
Iain had produced a couple of the 5603 drills on the Phantasmal Surveyor. The clan’s smiths had dismantled one of them, reproduced the design and was producing copies that weren’t nearly as crude as Iain had feared they would be. The kobold made seed drills were in use in the valley, planting the crops the clan consumed. He’d also sent some of them to Xune’s colony in Chult, where they were doing the same thing.
The biggest problem with seed drills is that because they didn’t turn over the earth, they did nothing to control weeds. However, here, the solution was a simple one. Kobold children had been taught the difference between weeds and seedlings and turned loose with a few adults to supervise while they pulled up and ate the weeds.
“They’re wonderful. We could have used them in the village I came here from.”
Iain smiled at her. “Well, you’re here now and we’re using them here.” He gave her a stern look. “Don’t try to smuggle one of them home, please.”
The green elf laughed. “I wouldn’t. I live here now. Anyway, it’s too big to strap to a horse.”
Iain went inside and was looking at a marijuana plant when there was a quiet pop and a scroll appeared in front of him. He recognized the ribbon as one of his designs and caught it before it fell to the floor.
The scroll bore the seal of Shatris, but he’d given her some enchanted ribbons for emergencies so, after checking for traps, he broke the seal and opened the scroll.
Iain, my second oldest brother was found dead this morning. According to the investigation, he had gone to the top of one of the towers and somehow fallen. My brother hated heights and avoided them whenever possible. I think he was murdered and I think it was because he was Raloric’s heir. I am next in line for the throne. Can I come stay with your clan?
The note was unsigned, but the scroll only held two scents, that of Shatris and that of Fara, her maid and best friend.
Iain put the message in his pocket and left the greenhouse. With his twee, he was doing the preflight on the Lemon Sour as he headed for his lab to pick up a few items he might need. Once he had them, he headed for the ship. Once on board, he lifted off and turned towards the capital of Keltormir. He reached out with his twee. Solnys?
What is it, Iain?
Shatris is coming to stay with us for a while. I’m going to get her now. I don’t know if she’s bringing anyone with her, but once I find out I’ll let you know. He paused, thinking. This came without warning, which is why you weren’t advised ahead of time.
Do I need to change our alert status?
No. I should be back before morning. If anything changes before I return I’ll let you know. I don’t really think this will change our relationship with the kingdom.
Solnys’ voice in his head chuckled bitterly. I doubt anything will make our relationship with Keltormir better and there’s not a whole lot worse it can become. I’ll let Zilvra and Rardur know what’s going on and a room will be ready for Shatris whenever she gets here. Zilvra was still the head priestess of the goddess Eilistraee for the clan and Rardur had become their general.
Thank you.
Be careful. You are supposed to marry me to Rardur and Naldryn next moon and I’ve invested too many years in cultivating you to find another priestess at such short notice.
Cultivating? I’m not a wheat stalk.
Of course you’re not. There was a pause. If you were a plant, you’d be a weed.
Later, Solnys.
His dwarven seneschal wasn’t quite done. In all seriousness, this would be an excellent way to lure the Grey to the capital so you could be more easily collected to await His Majesty’s pleasure. I’d be happier if you took a platoon of the army with you, but then you’ve already left so I shouldn’t even bother bringing it up.
Iain smiled. One official nag documented and logged.
Understood, Iain. Be safe.
Iain accelerated the Lemon Sour until the wind made him shift to a draconic form to protect his eyes from the force of it and stabilized out at that velocity for the flight to the capital. He placed an illusion of sky around the ship and it became effectively invisible as it moved.
Hours later he slowed the ship as the city passed below and brought the ship to a hover over the palace. Iain pulled a piece of Shatris’ hair, which was one of the things he’d picked up from his lab, from his pouch and cast the location finding spell.
The spell indicated that she was outside the city, somewhere to the west. Iain shook his head. “I should have remembered she’s smart enough to evac if things went south.”
The Lemon Sour turned and headed west.
***
Iain brought the Lemon Sour to a hover and examined the scene below. There was a medium sized building set under some large trees that reminded him of a royal hunting lodge or something similar. Dozens of tents had been set up in neat lines to the immediate north of the building. If it had been humans, there would have been torches on posts to provide light and a sense of security, but with elves that wasn’t necessary and the area was almost completely dark. The only light came from a few windows of the lodge, and the location of those suggested that it was probably fires in the kitchen.
Iain held up his hand and a silver dove appeared, floating over his palm. “To Shatris, princess of Keltormir. Message begins. I’m here and I’ve got the Lemon Sour. Where do you want me to land so you can load? Message ends. Reply requested.” The dove spread its wings and took off, twisting to dive for the building.
Five minutes later the dove shot upwards and hovered in front of Iain. It spoke in Shatris’ voice. “Some people will light torches to show you where to land. Wait until they’re lit. I’ll be there.” Its message delivered; the dove faded into nothingness.
Light bloomed below and Iain looked over the side to see a handful of lights that marked out a circle not far from the tents. He moved the ship over it and descended until he touched down. The outriggers groaned softly as they took up the weight of the ship.
Iain tossed the cargo netting over the side and dropped to the ground next to it. An elf stood in front him with his sword drawn but down. He nodded to Iain as people put the torches back out. “The princess is coming.” He smiled. “Corellon’s blessing on you for this.”
Iain smiled back at him. “Wrong god but thank you for the sentiment.”
A few minutes later Shatris emerged from the darkness, with Fara close behind her. “Iain!” She hugged him. “Thank you for coming.”
“The ribbons are for emergencies,” Iain replied. “I decided it was faster just to come than to reply and worry that it might be somehow intercepted. You’re welcome to stay with us.”
Shatris nodded. “After my brother’s funeral I publicly announced that I was going into seclusion for a few months to make my peace with my brother’s memory. It’s one of our old traditions that isn’t followed as much as it once was, but it isn’t so rare as to arouse interest in my movements. I and my personal retainers packed my belongings and came out here. I’d already arranged for their families to meet us here too. There’s roughly five hundred of us and I’d like to take them all, if I can.”
Iain’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a lot of guests.”
“I am not going to be a guest, Iain. I’m voluntarily going into exile and they are going with me. We will be joining your clan if you will have us.”
Iain’s raised eyebrows drew down into a frown. “You know you’re asking for a lot. While Raloric doesn’t have any love for my clan, taking in the new heir is going to cause some consternation with his advisors and they’re going to try to get him excited about it too.”
Her eyes were somber but Iain could still read the plea in them. “I know, but I don’t have anywhere else to go that I know my people will be safe. You always protect your people. Will you let us join you?”
Iain nodded. “I didn’t say I was turning you down, I just wanted to be sure that both of us realized what it means for the clan you’re going to be joining.” He considered options for a moment. “I can’t fit five hundred people on the Lemon Sour, but once they’re ready to leave, I’ll open a gate to the valley and you can move your people through to the village.”
“Thank you, Iain,” she said simply. She turned to the soldier. “Captain Fargrove, please start assembling the families and the rest of my household.”
He bowed. “Yes, Your Highness.” He turned and headed for the tents.
Iain looked at Shatrtis. “Do they really all want to become clan?”
“I’ve spoken with all of the adults and they do.” She smiled. “I know you’ll ask them. I also know you’ve been taking in Keltormir’s citizens and some of them have been joining your clan. I’m surprised that you haven’t had problems with the local administration.”
Iain shrugged. “They tried demanding some of them back and I told them that if they were murderers or something like that, I’d consider it. It turns out that one of the people they wanted had raped and killed some woman. He hadn’t joined the clan and I had him captured and returned for trial and punishment. There was one other murderer they were looking for and she had joined the clan under false pretenses. We do ask if someone is wanted wherever they came from and what for, just in case. She’d lied.”
“Did you return her too?”
“I questioned her and she confessed to the murder. I sent her body back to prove she was dead. Clan law is fairly straightforward about the fact that we punish our own. And the punishments under clan law are usually pretty severe. It’s said that if you are innocent it is better to be tried by the clan and if you are guilty it is better to be tried by outlanders. That’s not always true regarding outlander law, but it is, in general, accurate.” Behind Shatris, Iain could see some of the tents were beginning to be taken down. “Getting everyone ready is going to take a while,” he noted quietly. “While we’re waiting, how about we get some tea and you can tell me what’s been happening in the kingdom since the last time we talked?”
“That would be nice.” She motioned towards the building. “Come inside.”
Iain followed her even as he reached out with his twee to inform Solnys of what he’d learned.
***
April smiled at Ninhursag over her cup of tea. “So, you’re finally the Grey. How does it feel?”
The silver haired Elfqueen coughed as she accidentally inhaled tea down her windpipe. She got her coughing under control and shot April a quick glare that softened under the Duelist’s amused look. “Do you remember when, before he got his scheduled free time, Iain would bitch about how he had no spare time and no privacy and we didn’t really believe him? I have learned he was telling the absolute truth and I can’t wait to give him back the leadership of the clan when he returns.”
April raised an eyebrow. “Is it really that bad?”
“April, my dear, everyone understands that my appointment as the Grey is temporary until Iain returns. Still, I am the Grey and Iain made sure that I would be given access to everything that they Grey does. I didn’t think it would be very different from being the maharani, but when I became the Grey I found out there is another security classification level that only the Grey, Daya and Theodora have access to. It’s for projects that not even I knew anything about. It turns out that Iain was very active in working on them.” She sipped at her tea. “I’ve refused briefings on several of them because I won’t be doing this for long and some of them are multigenerational projects.”
April frowned. “What kinds of projects could this cover?”
Theodora appeared. “Ninhursag, you should not have even told April that much.” She looked at April. “I’m sorry, but you know how this works. What you don’t know cannot be somehow extracted from you.”
“Is there anything about what Iain was doing that you can tell me?”
Theodora smiled. “You mean on top of everything that you already know about? The portions of Indigo closest to our land and elsewhere outside Texas’ borders are currently negotiating to become part of Texas. While Vice President Lyons is leading the delegation that is doing the actual negotiating with the various groups all around the outside of Texas, the local representative from the part of Indigo just on the other side of the Louisiana Canal has demanded that Iain and, to a lesser extent, Lucifer be involved in the negotiations. To that end, Iain has been consulting with Lyons every evening and helping with some of the intelligence we have developed on the region. It also means both he and Lucifer have been going to Austin to attend some of the negotiations. He’s also helping Lorena and David with some other projects, mostly intelligence related. That doesn’t even include his responsibilities as a Ranger, since Ninhursag did not inherit that as well when she became the interim Grey or the fact that he’s still involved with General Hays and military operations and supply in Texas. It also doesn’t include his involvement with Prometheus. I handle what I can, but Hays is uneasy dealing with me alone so Iain picks up the slack. Gormlaith has been an absolute godsend and she has taken a great deal off Iain’s plate, but some of it goes right back on it after she reviews it for relevance.”
April frowned. “Could we help with any of this?”
“Probably, but none of you are interested in anything that might add to your responsibilities. Iain won’t let you or Ninhursag just dump this on someone you don’t think is busy enough, so he, Daya and I handle it.”
April shook her head. “I never knew.”
“You didn’t want to,” Theodora noted with a smile. “Every one of you has your own responsibilities and few of you want more. Unfortunately, that sends the things that can’t be ignored to Iain’s desk.”
April shook her head again. “I’ll try to keep that in mind.” She looked at Ninhursag. “I understand you had a spirited discussion with Kasumi today. Was that about the new protocols?”
Ninhursag growled softly. “Indirectly. What it really was about was the fact that she, along with every other non pokegirl in the inner clan who has owned pokegirls thinks it’s great that we institute new safety protocols or rules that everyone has to follow until that everyone includes them.”
April chuckled softly. “Humans are so spoiled.”
Ninhursag shrugged. “It’s what they know. Deep down, they know that we’re still just pokegirls and pokegirls haven’t ever had authority over them before and they don’t want us to have authority over them now.”
April raised an eyebrow. “How do you feel about the members of the Sisterhood who are just as bad, only in the opposite direction?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve had to deal with more than one member of the Sisterhood who has an attitude about Iain being in charge. The whole attitude is one of ‘He’s just a human. Put a pokegirl in charge, preferably a Celestial, and all your problems will be taken care of in short order.’”
Ninhursag laughed. “I have encountered that attitude before and can you imagine what Iain would say when confronted with it?”
April nodded. “I’d hope that no children were around to hear his language when he replied to such a stupid idea.”
“I hope I’m there to hear it.”
“Me too.” April looked over at Theodora, who was still there. “Getting back to Kasumi, I heard she tried to go around Ninhursag to Iain.”
Theodora nodded. “She did. Apparently she’d expected him to hang around waiting for her to come home before he left. She’s not happy about that either and I suspect she’s going to let Iain know how unhappy she is about it at her first opportunity.” She glanced at Ninhursag. “You’re the Grey now and so I’m supposed to advise you on things that might make the clan run more smoothly. Do you want me to?”
“If you can make my job as Grey any easier, yes. Did you advise Iain this way?”
Theodora smiled. “He insisted that Daya and I both do so. He ordered us to and it was our pleasure to follow that order.”
Ninhursag nodded. “Then that is my order too. Advise me, inorganic maharani.”
“If you feel that Kasumi, Ygerna and Monica are being problematic about their behavior towards authority figures within the clan who are pokegirls, perhaps you should consider methods to change that behavior. One way to do that would be to break up the units that they command in battle. I don’t think you’ve even considered doing that because you too have pokegirl conditioning that affects the way you look at the world around you.”
Ninhursag frowned. “I don’t understand. None of them are unit commanders.”
April blinked and sat upright. “You mean their harems?”
“I do. Monica and Kasumi were both tamers and that is where they were conditioned to believe what they do about pokegirls. Kasumi’s position as a princess of Shikarou’s various kingdoms reinforced that, especially since Shikarou would not let Branwyn have any authority over her. Ygerna was not ever legally a tamer, but her guard is essentially her harem and has been hers for decades. And Monica was once one of the dozen most powerful people in Blue and is used to being deferred to by everyone, including high ranking pokegirls. Each of them, as a tamer and harem, have trained together but according to my records they have never individually been evaluated for the best place for them within the clan’s military. Some of them are among our best combatants, but because of the positions they hold and the extraordinary lengths that you go through to protect their tamers, they seldom ever have to really fight. Their skills are being wasted.”
“But,” April protested, “we can’t break them up. Harems are more efficient working with their tamers.”
“That is your conditioning talking,” Theodora said evenly. “Do you have any empirical evidence to back up this claim?” She smiled. “Yes, it is true that a harem without its tamer is much less effective than one with a tamer actively leading it. But Iain only works with his bodyguards. The rest of his harem, you ladies, have your own responsibilities that you carry out perfectly well without his direct control. Yes, it is true that he gave you those responsibilities and he forced you to learn to work without his direct supervision, but doesn’t that suggest that any pokegirl can learn to do the same? I will admit that in the beginning your efficiency and effectiveness was relatively low, but all of you have risen to meet the challenges of independent command or operations in a manner that almost nobody could better.”
“They won’t want to be separated from their tamers,” Ninhursag said quietly.
April leaned forward to refill her tea. “And we didn’t want to be separated from Iain, did we? We’d all like to be in his guard. They’ll get over it since we’re not really separating them.”
Ninhursag’s chair creaked as she leaned back and looked thoughtful. “Theodora, is my desire to wait and drop this in Iain’s lap when he returns because of the explosions I see coming from this change,” she paused for a few seconds. “Is that part of my conditioning as a pokegirl to be subservient to humans because I don’t want to defy Kasumi and the others?”
Theodora smiled. “That is an excellent question, Ninhursag, and I believe that answer to it is no. You are very much aware that Iain is better at managing all three women than you are. You’re also aware that no matter what you do while he is gone, they will go to him when he returns to try and get this particular decision overridden by him.” Her smile chilled. “And we all know that he will back your decision.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Theodora nodded. “Having said that, there is something else that you should hear.”
“What’s that?”
“You are the next Grey. While we all hope and pray that nothing will ever happen to Iain, he will eventually either die or step down. You have been avoiding your responsibility as the heir insomuch that you have avoided trying to exert authority over the non pokegirls in the clan. You let Iain handle them. When he is gone and the clan is in an uproar over his death, that is not the time to exert authority you have never used before. It will result in even more chaos, some of which could have been avoided.”
“Fuck, you’re right,” Ninhursag said slowly. Her eyes sharpened on Theodora. “How do you think I should handle this?”
“I believe you should wait for Iain to return, since he will then be available to aid you in asserting your authority. Then you need to sit down with him and, later, the people you have been avoiding, and see if things can be resolved with a minimum of difficulty.”
“I may have to sit down with all of them at once, including Iain,” Ninhursag said.
“And you may have to go that route, but that should be the last avenue you pursue and not the first. Bringing in Iain after you have tried to solve any issues with them on your own will underscore the fact that you are trying to assert your own authority and not Iain’s authority on your behalf. As there is a chain of command, right now you outrank everyone in the clan except Iain. Lucifer is complicated as she is your subordinate within the clan but your superior when she is the leader of the Sisterhood and is then superior in rank to everyone except the Grey, due to the conditions in her oath as the leader of a satellite clan.”
Ninhursag nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. I’ve been leading the pokegirls and not giving due attention to the fact that I also am one of the leaders of the whole clan.” She chuckled. “It’s a wonder that Iain hasn’t fired me yet.”
“I advised him that it was not yet time for that detailed an evaluation of your performance,” Theodora said. “I told him that you would grow into your responsibilities as second in the clan but that it might take some time as there were psychological issues you had to work through first. Daya concurred and Iain has postponed that decision for the time being.”
Ninhursag’s eyes were saucers as she stared at Theodora. “You would recommend replacing me?”
“Iain, I and Daya are tasked with ensuring the survival of the clan,” Theodora said calmly. “If you cannot lead the entire clan, you should not be the Grey. If you cannot exert the authority that is inherent in your position as second in the clan, you should not be second in the clan, and that position is currently that of maharani. That was one of the reasons Iain took the opportunity of his absence, as short as he expects it to be, to place you in overall command of the clan and give you the opportunity to see his perspective as well as give me the opportunity to counsel you on what you need to improve on.”
April put down her cup. “What would you do if Ninhursag isn’t growing into her responsibilities?”
“Then it would be time for Iain to evaluate her performance,” Theodora replied. “I like Ninhursag and we are good friends but the survival of the clan comes before any relationship I have with anyone here except Iain.”
“Why does his relationship with you come first,” Ninhursag asked curiously.
“Iain is my primary administrator. If he chose to push the matter, I could not disobey even the vilest of commands from him. That is one of the reasons he demanded we keep our freedom of will to advise him as he needed and not as he might like.”
April frowned. “Did you and Iain ever have a serious disagreement?”
Theodora’s face stilled. “We have.”
“Did you ever persuade him to your viewpoint during one of these disagreements?”
“I did.”
“Would you care to elaborate on that a little?”
Theodora’s somber eyes met April’s. “I would not.”
April nodded. “I know you’re not lying to me, so I won’t pursue it any further.”
Theodora looked at Ninhursag. “Is there anything else you want from me at the moment?”
“No. Thank you for the discussion and the advice.”
Theodora gave her a partial bow. “You are welcome, clan leader. Thank you for receiving it well.” She vanished.
***
Year One Hundred and Seven
“Again,” Aurum said. Iain obediently opened his mouth. “And, my lord, remember to generate the immunity as you generate the technique so that we don’t have to grow your teeth, tongue and the soft tissues of your mouth back. Again.”
His head twisted to glare at her for a second before he focused on his target, inhaled and exhaled, producing a torrent of fire across the field. Plants withered in the heat and the baked dirt cracked with small puffs of steam.
Aurum nodded. “I would call that a partial success, my lord.”
Iain was gingerly feeling his teeth with his tongue. “Nothing vaporized or shattered this time.”
“Yes, my lord, but the flames only traveled ten meters and your target was twice that distance from you. A true gold dragon of your size should be able to project its breath weapon out to, at the very least, a thirty meter distance. A pokegirl can also breathe fire at that range.” She shook her head. “It would be much easier to teach you dragon techniques if you became a dragon pokegirl, my lord.”
Iain shrugged, making his wings shift as he did. “Yes, it undoubtedly would make it a lot easier to master fire breath and the other techniques I want to learn, but I can’t. I told April that I wouldn’t become a pokegirl unless she was around to make sure I didn’t do anything completely stupid.”
Aurum’s smile was amused. “My lord, did you promise her not to do this?”
“I did not, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse to ignore what I told her. While it took me a lot longer to learn this than I would have if I were a dragon pokegirl, I did learn fire breath.”
“My lord, it took you two years of hard work to come as far as you have. We both know that you still have much work to do learning this technique and I have projects I need to see to. Projects that are actually important.”
“I realize that I’ve been keeping you from things you’d rather be doing but until now I wasn’t aware that it was annoying you so much, Aurum. You’re free to go.”
“Thank you, my lord.” Aurum turned and stopped before turning back to him. “My lord, did you just end today’s lesson or did you just dismiss me from teaching you anything further?”
“I dismissed you.”
Aurum drew herself up to a position of attention. “My lord, why?”
Iain shifted back to his elven form. “Apparently my progress is unsatisfactory to you and I am not going to break an agreement I made with my wife to do what you think will appease you. Since that’s the case and I won’t do what you want in order to make you happy and since I don’t get a lot of time to work on this, I’m not going to waste it arguing with my instructor. So, I want to thank you for helping me get to this point.”
“My lord, you are not finished learning this technique.”
“I am aware of that.” Iain stepped up and looked up to look directly into her eyes. “What’s wrong now?”
Aurum dropped to one knee and bowed her head. “I would like to ask to continue teaching you, my lord.”
“I am probably going to continue learning this slowly, Aurum, and you don’t like that. I had to do a lot of rescheduling so I can free up the time I’ve been able to use for these lessons. I realize it’s not much, but it’s all I can shake loose among the other things, things that I actually have no choice and must do. This is a want more than a need, at least right now it is. Are you going to keep telling me that I’m keeping you away from something you’d rather be doing? If that’s going to be the case, I can ask Natalie or Rhea to work with me and you can go do whatever it is that you’d prefer to be doing.”
Aurum didn’t move. “Is it too late to apologize for my actions, my lord?”
Iain’s face was expressionless as he eyed the top of her head for a long moment before speaking. “No, it isn’t.”
“My lord, I apologize for my arrogance and, in that arrogance, deciding that what you are doing is somehow insufficient to me. You asked me to teach this to you and I agreed to. I did not ask you to learn it quickly and the fact that you can use your magic to mimic pokegirl techniques at all is amazing, especially considering that you started out as a human with little to no magic of your own.”
Iain grimaced suddenly. “Get up.” Aurum rose smoothly to her feet. “I’m sorry for making you abase yourself like that. I am better than that and so are you. You’re not my slave and I don’t want to treat you like one since I know just how proud you are. I’m in a shitty mood and I shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”
“My lord, you are treating me no worse than you would treat April or Ganieda should they express frustration at the slow pace of your development.” She smiled slightly. “I’m not sure you’d fire them to their face, but other than that you are treating me like one of your family.” She frowned. “Is this what you meant when you were talking to Eirian about her prejudices?”
“What do you mean?”
“My twee and I just realized that I am treating you like I would treat a mammal pokegirl and I also realized that I would be more patient with another Dragoness than I would with that mammal pokegirl.”
“If that’s your revelation, then, yes, this behavior is part of what I was talking about. It doesn’t help the cohesion of the harem. Even though you’re all dead, you and the others can and do still feel resentment and other emotions.”
“Are you going to fire Eirian, my lord?”
“I don’t think the situation is quite that bad just yet.”
“But it is not getting better?”
“I don’t see it if it is.”
“I will speak with Eirian, my lord.”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “We both know that you are in the running for the next maharani of the undead harem if I remove Eirian. Why try and help her to keep her position?”
“I am content with my place in the harem, my lord.” Her teeth glittered in her smile. “My ambitions are personal, my lord. I wish to become more powerful than any other Dragoness and then more powerful than any other pokegirl and, finally, more powerful than anyone I know of, including you. I have no desire to waste my time ordering others to do my bidding instead of gathering that power to my bosom.”
“How do you feel about doing the bidding of Eirian and me?”
“My lord, I am a pokegirl. Because I am a pokegirl, I want to serve a powerful master. I am fortunate that I have one. Yes, I want to be more powerful than he is, and I am even more fortunate that my master is always growing more powerful so that I will always find him powerful enough to serve. And I believe that if the one person I will never be more powerful than is my master, if it is you, I can be content with my position as the second most powerful being anywhere.”
Iain’s eyes searched hers. “You didn’t say anything about how you feel about serving Eirian.”
Her eyes met his and she smiled again. “That is correct, I did not.”
“I will allow you to continue teaching me certain pokegirl techniques.” He smiled. “Especially if they will help me keep ahead of your power curve.”
Aurum laughed. “You will have to learn far more than a simple flamethrower technique, my lord, and you will have to learn flame breath far better than you do now.”
“Then teach me how to do it right.”
The Dragoness nodded. “You still have an hour scheduled for this. Return to your dragon form and you will continue to practice, my lord.”
Iain obediently shifted.
***
Year One Hundred and Twelve
Mielikki stepped back, dropping her sword to a low guard position as she did. “Enough.”
Iain relaxed and sheathed his sword as he began deep breathing to reoxygenate his blood. “Enough? If that means you surrender, I accept.”
“Keep dreaming that I would ever surrender to you, Iain, if that’s what motivates you.”
Eilistraee was sitting nearby and watching intently. “Are you done with him?”
Mielikki wiped the sweat from her brow with the hem of her shirt. “Yes.”
Iain immediately headed for the bench holding the pile of towels and his decanter of lemonade. “I did what I could to wear her down, Eilistraee. She’s your problem now.”
The drow goddess laughed as she rose to her feet. “You’re doing better than you think.”
Iain tossed Mielikki a towel and looked down at his clothing, which was white with dried sweat where it wasn’t sodden with fresher sweat. He balled up the towel before using it as a sponge to dry his face and hair. “Perhaps, but I don’t have much choice. Even though you’re holding back, I either step up my game while sparring with you two or I get to use the healing spells you ladies so graciously grant me. Someone I meet today might need healed more than I do so I’d hate to waste those gifts on me for not trying hard enough.”
Mielikki used the towel to clean her face and tossed it to the side. “She’s right. I wasn’t holding back as much as you think, Iain.”
“I kind of hope that someday I won’t hear the caveat in that sentence and all you’ll say is that you weren’t holding back.” He picked up his decanter and tossed it to Mielikki. “Well, as long as it isn’t followed by you saying that direct pressure should stop the bleeding or that you can reattach that as soon as I stop screaming.”
“Thank you.” She drank deeply before offering the decanter to Eilistraee, who took it, drank and handed it back. Mielikki drank more lemonade before recapping the decanter and tossing it back to Iain, who put it back on the bench. “You’re not going to drink? You’ll regret that later.”
“I’m running a test on how well I can maintain my overall fitness while under physical stress. It’s safer to do that now under monitored conditions than later when things are a bit less orderly and controlled.”
Mielikki eyed him curiously. “What have you learned?”
“If this is how Kerrik does it, he must have immense internal energy reserves that I don’t. It’s not working well so far.”
“He has always been a magical being of one stripe or another,” Mielikki pointed out. “Perhaps he would teach you how he sustains himself.”
“One of the two rules of success is not to reveal everything you know,” Iain replied. “And, while we are friends and will be relatives by marriage, we are also competitors and will always be competitors at some level, just like you are competing with all of the other nature deities. Neither of us is foolish enough to forget that.”
Mielikki nodded. “I wasn’t sure if you and he really understood the truth about your relationship.” She looked at Eilistraee. “Prepare.”
The drow goddess was suddenly wearing chainmail in a drow style and wielding a practice sword and small spiked buckler. “I am.”
“Begin”
Iain stood and watched them spar. The fast paced, dizzying array of strike, counterstrike, advance, retreat and maneuver was almost a blur. Someday, perhaps in a few hundred years, he hoped to look like them in combat, but he still had a long way to go. He would continue to watch them closely because he always learned something new from watching them in action. They’d finish their sparring and then, if they followed the schedule Mielikki had laid out when she’d suggested they meet for training, they’d have lunch and then Iain would get questioned by his goddesses.
***
Mielikki and Eilistraee were seated on the blanket where the three of them had eaten the midday meal while Iain stood with his hands behind his back. He was essentially in the same parade rest position he’d used when awaiting orders while he was in the US Navy. Mielikki watched him impassively for a few moments, ratcheting up the tension he felt, before speaking. “I understand that you cannot share with me the progress of the mission you have been tasked with, so we will avoid that line of questioning for the moment to focus on your personal development. While you’ve been gone from my oversight, a century has passed for you. Our sparring will tell me what you’ve learned in physical combat. What developments have taken place in your magical development?”
“Are you asking about my formal magic, my truewizard magic or my dragon magic?” He frowned. “Although I’ll admit that I’m not sure if the truewizard and dragon magic are easy to distinguish apart.”
Mielikki smiled. “I want you start with your formal magic.”
“I’m continuing to grow in power as a formal mage. It’s slowed down since all of the other demands I have on my time and, honestly, once things calm down a bit I may go back to adventuring to grow at a faster rate. Still, that won’t be for at least another century.”
Mielikki nodded. “Have you taken time to research spells of your own?”
“A little. I have a truewizard procedure for locating people and things that’s very precise and very accurate. Zilvra wants to convert it into a spell that priestesses of Eilistraee can use. In order to that, I’ve had to research a version of it as a formal magic spell for her and me to have something to work with. It’s slow going with her, but I think we can get that figured out within the next ten or fifteen years. Still, that is the only original research I’ve done for formal magic. I’m still in the beginning stages of reading my way through the libraries that Selsharra made available to me and there are a lot of spells in there that I’ve never seen before. I am adding those to my spell books as I get time to, but that’s not really original work.”
“I wasn’t aware that you’d made a copy of Selsharra’s library to bring here,” Mielikki said.
“I didn’t. We found the Selsharra who lives here and shanghaied her into the undead harem. She wasn’t happy there and now she’s going to protect me and my children like she did the ones of her bloodline. As part of that, she made her vast collection of holdings, including her books, available for me to use.”
“If there is a Selsharra here, then the royal bloodline exists here, does it not?”
Iain shook his head. “The line died out several thousand years ago, just like it did in Kerrik’s past, but the primary difference here is that Kasserine never returned from her trip. If she did have this world’s version of Kerrik, he wasn’t anything like the one we know.”
“Isn’t it more likely that this world’s Kasserine died instead of having this child?”
Iain shrugged. “Not really. The powers influencing the circumstances of Kerrik’s birth would have exerted a lot of power to make sure a child was born by Kerrik’s sire and it is very likely that Kasserine would still have been the vehicle for that child since the reasons she was chosen the first time would still be in effect. So it is very probable that this world’s analog of Kasserine did give birth to an analog of Kerrik, unless she died before she ever met,” he stopped speaking.
“Please continue.”
Iain smiled. “No. We’ve had this talk. I don’t reveal anything more than what people already know about that particular incident.”
Eilistraee cocked her head. “Why?”
“Because there are powers who are not currently involved who could easily become involved and that involvement would very likely be to the detriment of everyone around Kerrik, including me and my family.”
Eilistraee looked at Mielikki and back at Iain. “Can you explain what kind of detriment could take place and what its severity could be?
“We could be blotted out of existence. I, for one, am not ready to have my existence snuffed out completely.” He looked at Mielikki. “Please change the subject.”
She nodded. “Very well. You and Dominique were working on developing formal magic spells that duplicate some pokegirl techniques. Have you continued that work here and, if so, what progress have you had?”
“I haven’t even looked at it,” Iain replied. “I’m not going to, either. That’s something for me and Dominique to do together and I’m not going to take that away from her.”
“What if Mielikki and I wanted you to continue this work,” Eilistraee asked.
“I have special projects with each of the women that I love. None of those projects are time critical and none of them involve anything that the multiverse can’t live without. There are plenty of formal magic spells, including cleric spells, that already exist and are designed to break things and hurt people. More of them would be interesting, but none of them are crucial somehow, so there’s no logical reason for either of you to insist that I piss Dominique off by ignoring what we planned to do together and work on those spells without her.” He smiled easily. “Anything else would be sheer capriciousness and neither one of you is that capricious.”
Mielikki smiled and nudged Eilistraee. “See how he tries to manipulate us?”
Eilistraee nodded. “I like how he is trying to lead us to want to be logical.”
Iain flashed a smile. “Did it work?”
“Yes,” Mielikki said. “It did. Now, what about your attempts to add pokegirl techniques to your repertoire with your truewizard magic?”
“I’ve had some success in that line of research since I still have access to the members of my undead harem and they have been willing to show me techniques as I try to learn how to produce them.” He smiled briefly. “At their core most pokegirl techniques are energy produced at a certain output and at a certain frequency, with or without specific side effects. As a truewizard, energy is one of the things I am supposed to be able to easily manipulate. There have been some issues, but most of those are physicality related and I’ve found some workarounds until I figure out what I need to do right.”
“I will want some examples, please.” Mielikki glanced at the drow sitting next to her. “Actually, how about you demonstrate at least the beginning of some of the ones you already know first since Eilistraee hasn’t seen any of this yet.”
“Yes,” Eilistraee said eagerly. “Is this when you use magic without manipulating the Weave?”
“It is.” A shimmering line of multicolored light sprang from his fingertip. “Energy blade. It cuts things at a molecular level and is easy to block with simple magic defenses. Still it has a lot of utilitarian uses.” Flames formed above his hand. “Fire. We’re all familiar with it.” The fire turned solid black. “Hellfire. It’s not really evil, it puts out ultraviolet light and can be used by people with darkvision and it’s real interesting aspect is that it, at a normal fire temperature, can consume things that normally don’t burn at such a low temperature.” He smiled. “I have a whole line of research planned out to find out how that happens.” The flames turned pure white with flickering blue and gold tips. “Heavenly fire, which does more damage the eviler someone is. I haven’t tested that here just yet, but I have some plans.”
“That’s one I’d like to see as a formal spell,” Mielikki murmured.
The flame vanished and a ball of white light appeared over Iain’s hand. “Hyper beam makes a huge mess and is rather indiscriminate. I’m a fan of more precise ways of killing people and breaking things, but it makes a great bomb while I’m working on mastering some dark techniques.” The ball of light turned golden in hue. “Solar beam is the plant based version of hyper beam and has the same drawbacks, although I think it might be hell on wheels for undead or other creatures who are sensitive to sunlight. I’ll have to science that one.” The ball vanished. “I’m working on more, but many pokegirl techniques that I’m interested in require specialized organs I don’t have. For some of the others, I don’t have anyone here who can teach them.”
Mielikki nodded. “Are you going to give yourself some of the more physical pokegirl techniques?”
“I told April that she would have oversight and veto power over any experiments that involved me turning into a pokegirl. Since I’m not sure where the line would be crossed if I tried giving myself things like that. I don’t want to disappoint her, so I’m putting anything like that off until I return home.”
Mielikki reached for her goblet of water. “Things here are more tumultuous than I’d originally thought. Because of this, I would like to request that you give me perception, and that you offer it to Eilistraee.”
Iain shrugged. “No problem.”
“I would also like you to offer her a twee.”
Iain’s face shifted only slightly, but Mielikki recognized his sudden unhappiness. “She’s not clan.”
“No, she is not. However, it would give her a way to communicate with both of us that does not require her to physically be with us or seek us out with magic that might be detected and tracked, to either end of the message line.”
“I will not give it to her entire priesthood,” Iain stated. “Twee are restricted to clan only.”
“Do the drow who are part of your clan have them,” Mielikki asked.
“They do. All of my clanswomen here have twee, down to the wyrmlings still wet from the egg. Things are too dangerous to do otherwise.”
“A wise decision. However, I suspect that one day we will want to talk to each other without others knowing that we’re doing so. Twee are undetectable with this world’s technology or magic. Please offer one to Eilistraee.”
“All right.”
“You’re not going to argue with her more,” Eilistraee asked.
“I’m not arguing with her. I told her no and I meant it. She used reason and convinced me to change my mind regarding giving you, and only you, a twee.” Iain rubbed his chin for a second. “I told you at one time that I will not let you put my clan in danger. Not all of your priestesses remain faithful to you and the idea behind the twee might not be as hard to duplicate with magic as I hope it is. The fewer who even know about them outside of the clan, the safer we are. Please understand that this is a clan survival issue and if you try to order me to give them out in any way that I don’t like, I am going to tell you no and you are not going to be able to order me to change that decision.”
“Could I attempt to reason with you as Mielikki did?”
“I’m always willing to listen to logical reasoning,” Iain said with a smile. “The only time I might not is if we’re in mortal danger. Even then, once the danger part is over, I should be willing to listen to reason.”
“You wouldn’t trust my decision about something that might endanger your clan,” Eilistraee said thoughtfully. “I can not only accept that; I support it wholeheartedly. You and your clan provide me a lot of direct and indirect support for my worshippers.”
“You’re welcome. So, ladies, what’s next?”
Mielikki patted the blanket between her and Eilistraee. “Later, you will give us a demonstration of some of the techniques you’ve adapted to your magic, but first, I understand you brought chocolate cheesecake for dessert.”
Iain sat down where directed. “I’m sorry but you heard incorrectly. We’re still working on a good cream cheese recipe. Today’s dessert is chocolate pie.”
Mielikki pretended to pout. “If that’s what you have then it will have to do. Please serve.”
***
Year One Hundred and Twenty Two
Beunis the Dark finished the incantation, shrieking the final passage to get it out against the growing resistance inside his throat. The candles and oil lamps illuminating the room all flared violently and their flames turned bright magenta as energy began to writhe inside the protective circle. The universe tore and red light spilled from the gate as the marilith slithered through it and into the center of the protective circle inscribed on the floor in the middle of the room. She rose to her full height and looked down at the sun elf as, behind her, the gate shut. Her voice slid over his skin like massage oil as she spoke, warm and seductive. “Why have you summoned me?” For an instant, Beunis smelled brimstone, but it was replaced almost before he could identify it with the smell of cinnamon.
“I offer a gift to my master as part of my pledge to our bargain. He offers your service to me in return for the gift.” Beunis pointed at the bound teenage green elf girl, who shrank back under the gaze of the demon. “Here is my gift.”
The marilith laughed. “The gift is impure. Your master, my master, will not want it.”
Beunis stared at the demon in horror. “That is impossible. I raised this child. She is pure.”
“Her womb seethes with a virile man’s seed even now,” the marilith announced.
“I swear I never touched her!”
The marilith smiled cuttingly. “I said a virile man’s seed. Your seed is as grapes which are withered on the vine. She is not pure. The gift is no gift and is refused. Release me.”
“Wait! I can find another gift!” Beunis snarled in fury and swung a kick at the girl. An iron grip clamped down on his neck and jerked him backwards to meet the mace descending on his head.
“No kicking the victim,” Iain said mockingly as he tossed the semiconscious elf to Julia, who dropped a duffle bag to catch him. She began efficiently stripping him of everything he was wearing. Iain knelt and cut the bonds of the young woman before removing her gag. “Are you all right?” She nodded. “Once she gets done undressing Beunis, Julia here is going to take you to the valley. A dwarf named Solnys will arrange for you to be put up at our village while you decide if you want to see your family again.”
“They sold me to Beunis when I was a child. I want to know why.”
“We’ll help you get that answer.” Julia offered him the sun elf. Iain smiled and took him by the elbow. “Now go with Julia.”
The marilith roared in fury. “WHO ARE YOU?”
Julia took the young woman and slipped from the room as Iain stood and faced the demoness. He tossed Beunis into the circle with the marilith. “A life for your time.”
The marilith cocked her head as she snagged the sun elf with one of her six hands. “The agreement was for a virgin for my master.”
“Not my master. Not my agreement. Not my problem. And I’m giving Beunis to you, not your master.”
The marilith sniffed the air. “You are the man who defiled Beunis’ gift.”
Iain grinned. “I don’t think I’d call it defiling. She’s a smart girl. When I explained what was going on and what could happen to her, she immediately grasped what was necessary to make her unacceptable and asked me to help her with that before I left last night. It wouldn’t be polite to turn a lady down when she asks for something so special.”
“Why didn’t you rescue her last night?” The marilith grasped Beunis’ limbs in four of her hands and pulled idly in different directions. He screamed as joints popped audibly.
“I wanted him to complete the ritual and summon you.”
“I do not know you.” The marilith tugged again and Beunis screamed louder. She glanced down at the sun elf and smiled. “But he is an acceptable gift.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know he was going to summon you specifically. I just needed someone to summon a demon. Some people that I care about don’t want me summoning one, so I found Beunis here was planning a summoning ritual and started spying on him so I’d know when he was going to carry it out. I’m also keeping an eye on some other people who are planning to summon demons and I’ll probably stop them, but Beunis here was the lucky one who was first, so he got to succeed.”
The marilith lifted Beunis up and licked his face once before setting her teeth in the skin of his cheek and biting down. He screamed again as blood ran down his skin. She lifted her head, licking her lips clean of blood. “I am willing to negotiate with you for whatever task you wish to set me.”
“Well, I’m not. You might want to finish your present, though, or you might not get to.” Iain picked up the duffle bag and removed four threaded rods and a flat piece with a with four threated holes and a slotted holder in the center of the plate. He screwed the legs into the plate to make a stand. After extending the legs, he set it up facing the marilith and slipped a rhomboid cut emerald into the holder.
The demoness stared at the stand and the gem. “What is that for?” Her voice was suddenly flat and unhappy.
“It’s for your soul. I’m afraid I’ll have to keep it for a decade or so before I can release you.”
Beunis screamed again as the marilith hissed. “You cannot capture my soul.”
Iain smiled. “I think I can. In a few minutes we’ll find out who is wrong.” He glanced at the feebly moving sun elf. “If you don’t kill him I’m going to have to. Once the test starts I hope you’ll be too busy reacting to be able to kill anyone.”
The marilith lifted Beunis and sank her teeth into his throat. He tried to scream but could only make a hoarse gasping sound as she drank his arterial blood. She cast the body aside and shifted, becoming a stunningly beautiful nude moon elf woman. “How about instead I pretend I’m a virgin and you help me like you did the gift,” she said seductively. “I could give you delights like you have never imagined.”
Iain blinked. “Wow, that was a very well executed suggestion spell. Nicely done.”
The marilith smiled. “It didn’t work, though.”
“No, although I was tempted.”
She shifted back to her true form. “You said you were going to keep my soul for a decade or so. Why?”
“I’ve got nefarious plans for someone and I don’t want you either accidentally or deliberately spoiling them.”
“I am not the target of these plans?”
“No, you’re not.”
She smiled toothily. “Let me help you with your plans. Then you don’t need to keep me prisoner.”
“You do realize I know what you are and just how trustworthy you are not.”
“If I swear an oath to you, I will keep my word,” she said. “You know that too.”
Iain laughed. “You know, you’re amusing. Unfortunately for you, I have to capture a demon’s soul as part of the test. I will release it right away, though, since you have no idea who I am.”
“I can give you another demon to use for this test,” she said. “Then we can stay friends.”
“We are not friends. We’re not enemies, but we’re not friends. If I open that circle, you’ll either try to kill me or flee.”
Her teeth flashed. “Of course I would. You would too.”
“No, I’d make sure they couldn’t pursue me. That’s what I’m concerned you’ll try to do to me.”
“If you will release me, I will provide you with another demon to test on and you may keep that one’s soul forever, if you wish.”
Iain shook his head. “Just go.” He scuffed the lines of the circle.
The marilith flickered between where she was standing and just behind Iain. He spun in a blur as she did and she froze, her arms extended partially around him with her head tilted slightly back from the pressure of the point of the enchanted dagger that had been driven up into the soft tissues of her throat. She smiled without otherwise moving. “You’re clever and quick. I like that. I’m going to spend time in the emerald, aren’t I?”
“You are.”
The knife exploded into golden fire and the marilith fell away from Iain, screaming in agony as the heavenly fire engulfed her to eat into her body and soul. It swept over her body and died out, leaving a desiccated husk behind. Iain checked the emerald and smiled at the sight of the tiny marilith imprisoned inside it. “Perfect.” He pulled the gem free of the socket and tucked it into a pocket.
Silver smoke poured off of Iain’s arm and formed into Eirian. “My lord, shall we take everything of value here?”
“I don’t see where Beunis is going to need it ever again, so yes.”
“I will see to it, my lord. What are your plans for this creature?”
“The test worked even better than I thought it would, so we should be able to move on to the second set of tests. Once I’ve done what I intend to, I’ll let her go.”
“May I suggest an alternative plan, my lord?”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “And what would that plan be?”
“We have not added to the undead harem in a century, my lord. She would be a valuable addition and would prove very useful in our work among the drow. Powerful demons such as she move among all of the drow cities without anyone questioning their activities. Her presence would also enhance the stature of House Dinaen. Other houses plot against our house and they will attack it soon. She will make defending it much easier.”
“Can a demon even become a lich?”
“I believe so, my lord. If nothing else, if the procedure is a failure, little will be lost.”
“Well, I was inclined to say no.” He tossed the emerald to Eirian.
“My lord, what changed your mind?”
“Want to know for next time you try to influence my decision?”
The Dragoness smiled. “Of course, my lord.”
“You want to conduct science to see if this works. I like doing science.”
“Very well, my lord, we will do science.”
Iain nodded. “I want to be there for the various steps of the process.”
“It will be as you wish, my lord.”
“Good. Helesatra.” Red smoke flowed from under his shirt and formed into the sun elf lich. “Please take me back to the valley.”
“Yes, my lord.” She took his hand, muttered a teleport spell and they vanished.
***
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth - Vampire
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
73 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Rhea Silvia – Chimera
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Dabria (was Loviatar) – Dark Queen
Omisha (was Hel) – Demoness
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Helesatra Vyshaan half pit fiend (fiend) half sun elf. Princess of the Vyshaantar Empire.
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Selsharra of Evermeet
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)