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Loose Threads
One Hundred Thirty Four
It was late afternoon as they exited in the normal place just outside the clearing where Nightraven’s home was. The sinking sun lit everything a brilliant red and threw huge shadows around them as they stepped out. The gate closed behind them as Caintigern led him towards the entrance.
They stopped at the gate. “You must open it.”
Iain raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Either we must wait for her to allow us entrance or you must open it. My niece has not given me permission to enter unannounced as she has you. She has also recently forbidden me from entering the building via gate.”
“I see.” Iain patted the door. “Hi, it’s me. Can we please enter?” The door opened. “Thank you. Lady, Caintigern has come here to speak with you and brought me along with her.”
I am in the library. Bring her to me.
Iain looked at Caintigern. “Did you hear her?”
“I did not.”
“She’s waiting for you in the library.”
Caintigern looked curiously at him as they headed down the stairs. “Why did you announce our arrival as you did?”
“When I come here voluntarily, it’s to be her student. I must spend at least a year here when I do. I am not here except because you insisted that I come along. For the most part, I do not want to be here and I wasn’t planning to spend the next year as her student. Now we get to see if what I want is the slightest bit important.”
“I will explain to her that I brought you here.”
“I agreed to be her student. That obligates me to obey her in some things, no matter what you tell her. I knew that coming here puts me back under those obligation and, if she insists, I will obey them.”
“You did not explain this. Why did you not argue more against coming here?”
“You didn’t want to hear me tell you no. Additioinally, I’m trying to act like we’re mates without being your punching dummy, which means I am going to try to be reasonable about reasonable requests. Finally, I want to see if you were lying to me.”
The first level of the library was uninhabited. “Where is she,” Caintigern asked.
“She sometimes plays this game where I have to figure out where she is and then find her,” Iain replied. “All she told me was that she was in the library and to bring you to her.” He sniffed the air. “Yes, she’s muted her scent but not removed it entirely. She wants me to track her down.”
“How long will that take,” Caintigern asked irritably.
Iain regarded her for a long moment. “She’s on the third sublevel in area four.”
“How do you know that if she’s trying to make you find her?”
Iain grinned. “I improvise, adapt and overcome of course.” He headed down the stairs. “Let’s find her so she’ll be happier.”
Area four was a short distance from the stairs but far enough away that it couldn’t be seen from the landing. Nightraven looked up from the book she was reading and watched Iain and Caintigern as they approached her. “You have located me more quickly than usual.”
“I was fortunate,” Iain said. “Next time it might take longer to track you down.” It would too. He’d make sure it did.
“True. Fetch some tea.” Nightraven looked at Caintigern. “What did you wish to discuss?”
Caintigern pointed at the table and a tea service appeared as she looked at Iain. “Sit down with us.” She returned her attention to Nightraven. “This discussion, in part, is about him and he needs to be involved in it.”
Nightraven regarded Iain for several seconds. “Sit. Serve the tea.” She looked back at Caintigern as Iain sat and reached for the teapot. “While he is here, he is my student. You will not interfere with that relationship.”
“Is he your student on Ragnarök?”
“No.”
“Then we need to go there. He is our drake. As such, he needs to be able to speak freely with us.”
Nightraven stood. “Iain, take us to Ragnarök. Shadow walk. I know my wards cannot stop you so take us from here instead of outside.”
Iain put the teapot down. “Are you sure? You told me to never do that inside.”
“I wish to observe shadow walking as often as I can until I determine how it is done and how to defend against it,” Nightraven said.
“Your internal wards will stop any intruders no matter how they get in,” Iain said as he stood. “It will act just as soon as it realizes the intruder is present.”
Her eyebrows rose slightly. “How is it that you know this?”
“I spent a lot of time examining the magic in the residence of the other Nightraven, back on Twenty Three. Since I had taken possession of the place, that gave me control over it and it allowed me to examine and modify it as I wished. Although I can only give your wards an external inspection, they appear to have been unchanged since you laid them and are thus identical to the ones in my place.”
“I want access to this place.”
“We can discuss it when I am not your student. That way I’m free when we negotiate out what I want for that access.” He held out his hand. “Shall we?” She took his hand while Caintigern took his other one. Iain wrapped them in his power. “Step.”
The wind whipped around them, spraying them with sand from the desert they stood in. A partially buried tent lay flat on the sand. Its walls were covered with symbols in black and red. A mummified body stuck partially out from under the tent. Iain said something in a singsong in some language. “Step.”
They emerged in the courtyard of the desert temple on Ragnarök, looking over the river that ran beside it.
“What was that language,” Nightraven asked as she let Iain’s hand go.
“That was Midani. We were in the Anauroch Desert on some other Toril. That was a Bedine tent and I was telling the angry spirit of that corpse that we weren’t going to rob her of her possessions.”
“When did you travel there,” Nightraven asked.
“Elminster sent me there a few times. I had to learn the language and some of the culture to keep from insulting my hosts during my visits, getting into a bunch of fights to the death or accidentally ending up married.” He motioned towards a table that was set under a covered area. “Shall we?”
“I don’t remember this,” Caintigern said.
“You two don’t get down here very often,” Iain pointed out. “You tend to head straight into the desert to pick fights with Giganotosaurus and Titanosaurs when you’re down here.”
“You do not?”
“I am fascinated with the way the whole system works. Here I can watch the teleporters spawning the animal replacements. And now that I have access to some comparable animals in Chult, I can compare anatomies, especially what’s been done to their brains and neural architecture.” He flashed a grin. “And I get to clear the island by killing or eating everything there to promote the respawns, so I’m also hunting it.”
When they were seated at the table, Caintigern created a pitcher of wine and some goblets. “Iain must be allowed to participate freely in this conversation. It involves him and us and is important to our plans for revenge on Blacktooth’s line.”
Nightraven poured herself some wine and nodded. “Accepted.”
“Iain has pointed out something that I did not realize,” Caintigern began. “You chose him to be your mate and to help fight in this. Why him? Other than his size and strength, he is far from being what we would have considered to be an acceptable drake of the People.”
“And before you say that you only had limited choices and limited time,” Iain added quietly, “we accept that you are far more powerful than most of the People who are not of the Royal bloodline, and far more powerful than most of your relatives. You could have opened a gate to one of the worlds of the People and used your magic to call for an acceptable drake to join you. You would not have had to set foot on the world and therefore their magic that was looking for returning members of the Royal bloodline would never have triggered.”
Nightraven eyed him for a long moment. “I had not considered that path,” she admitted. “But it would not have mattered if I had. I must be able to trust my mate, both to be absolutely trustworthy and to be powerful enough to be an asset to my plans and not a hindrance. That is why I selected students, other than you, who had the potential to be what I need for this.”
“I insisted that Iain have a voice in these discussions because what you seem to want is a male who behaves like a dragoness.” Caintigern filled the other two goblets with wine and slid one towards Iain. “Is this true?”
Nightraven sipped at her wine. She regarded Iain contemplatively. “I hadn’t considered it in quite that fashion, but it is essentially correct. That is another reason that a drake of the People who was raised among them would not be acceptable for my needs. He could never do what I need him to be able to do, especially when I am not there to make him do it.”
“A drake like that will not be accepted among the People,” Iain said quietly. “Especially if he has a created bloodline, no matter how powerful it is. It would be a hindrance to your return and especially so if you truly plan to be Queen.” He met her gaze evenly. “You intend to kill me when this over, don’t you?”
“She is sworn to you,” Caintigern protested. “She cannot do that.”
“No oath she has given ever said anything about not murdering me.”
Nightraven put her goblet down and quickly rose to her feet. “How did you determine what my plans were?”
“It simple, really. It gets you out of your oath to have only me as your mate, since your oath to me dies when I do.” He looked into her eyes. “You can relax. I am not going to try to fight you. I can’t win in a confrontation with you and there isn’t a way to cheat my way to a win, either.”
“I will fight her,” Caintigern shot to her feet. “No one kills my mate.”
“Please, both of you sit down,” Iain was looking from one to the other. “The Overseer of this station is likely to react poorly if you start throwing around magic and then I will probably die here and now instead of in the future when Nightraven doesn’t need me anymore.”
“Do you not care that she intends to kill you,” Caintigern asked as she slowly sat, mirrored by Nightraven.
“I care very much. I don’t want to die or else I’d already be dead. I intend to spend the years I have left trying to figure out a way to keep that from happening, as long as I can protect the people that I love when I do.”
“Their lives are more important than your own?”
“Yes.”
“It does not matter what your plans are,” Nightraven said coolly. “I no longer intend to kill you.”
Caintigern looked surprised. “You do not?”
“No, and it is not because you would oppose me.” Nightraven turned to Iain. “You know so many other things, do you know why I would decide not to kill you?”
“It doesn’t really matter. You can change your mind later and we all know that you can. So you change your mind and then I’m dead.”
“I am willing to take whatever oath you require to prove that I will not. I will also take an oath not to actively harm your family or let my actions or people who are performing my actions harm them.”
“May I have some time to think through how to phrase those oaths?”
“You may.”
Iain nodded. “I have no idea about why you would permanently change your mind about killing me.”
“When I was growing up, I did interact with drakes. I know full well how the relationship between a drake and a dragoness is supposed to be. I did not mate because my studies were more important to me than offspring, at that point in my life.” She sipped at her wine again. “I created that relationship with my students, since one of them would eventually become my mate. They respected and feared me. The ones that still live, like Kerrik, still do so.”
“I respect you,” Iain said.
“Respect is not fear. You do not fear me. The fact that you brought yourself to me to become my student shows that you do not fear me. It made me curious and I took you as my student. I treated you as I have treated all of my students and, yet you refused to be afraid of me. You were afraid for others because of me, but you were never, truly, afraid of me. As hard as I tried, I could not make you fear me.”
“Fearing you was counterproductive,” Iain said quietly. “You were going to do whatever you were going to do whether I was afraid of you or not and I didn’t need the stress of being afraid of you on top of everything else you were stressing me with. That made it easy to decide not to be afraid of you.”
“Everyone is afraid of me. Beings as powerful as Elminster fear me on some level. So do my former students, all of whom are more powerful than Elminster, Arunsun or Halaster or the other most powerful mages of their times. Only you do not fear me.” She glanced at her grandaunt. “Even Caintigern fears that I am not entirely sane and therefore may act against her without warning or reason.”
“You are unstable,” Caintigern said. “We are working to remedy that, but you are unstable because of what has happened to you because of me.”
Nightraven nodded. “I am.” She looked back at Iain. “You have the potential to be very powerful and your drive to embrace that potential has been nothing I have encountered before. Drake, Kerrik and the others are more powerful, but they are much older than you are and they think like the elves and other long lived races I have taken as my students before you tend to think. They are not as focused as you are and you are more powerful at this point in your life than any of them were. You may be more powerful than I was when I was your age. But it was the fact that you were not afraid of me that became most important in my decision to choose you. It is also why I have decided that killing you would be a mistake.”
“Why,” Caintigern asked.
“If I become Queen, it will be by swimming through the seas of blood that we will spill from every dragoness who carries the slightest amount of Blacktooth’s blood in her. They will all have to die and I will not allow them to kill themselves. I will be feared by everyone except Iain. I have found that I like having someone who is not afraid of me around.” Her gaze shifted to him. “I have grown used to having you around, as a drake. I had originally thought that you would be easily replaced, but that is not so. No drake of the People would be like you. He could not be, not and survive to adulthood. As for the other dragonesses,” she shrugged. “The ones who interact with you will have to become accustomed to your behavior since Caintigern and I will protect you. Additionally, you are incredibly hard to kill.”
Iain looked surprised. “I am?”
“At this point in their studies, all of my previous students had died at least once, Iain. You have been remarkably adept at avoiding the fatal errors that the others had made. Some of my lessons have traps in them for the unwary. You have avoided all of them.”
“I’m not excited about becoming a lich. That makes me cautious and careful.” Iain leaned back in his chair. “Do you two have any plans for what we’re going to do that are more detailed than ‘send Iain to scout, follow and kill everyone’?”
“No,” Nightraven said. “But that time is not going to become now for several years and we will have something better by then.”
“Considering it’ll be my life we’ll be gambling with; I agree.” He rubbed his eyes for a moment. “So I’ll take Caintigern back to her home. Will I have to return and stay?”
“That is the agreement we have,” Nightraven said.
“I forced Iain to come with me for this discussion,” Caintigern protested. “He did not voluntarily come to be your student.”
“She didn’t force me,” Iain corrected her statement. “She told me to come with her and I didn’t argue the point.”
“Why you came to see me is immaterial. You are my student and you will stay.”
“Very well.”
“Are you doing this so that you have time that you can spend with our mate that I do not,” Caintigern asked.
Nightraven’s lips twitched as if she were suppressing a smile. “No.”
“I do not believe you.”
“I do not care what you believe.”
“He is my student too.”
Nightraven cocked her head. “You teach him history.”
“I intend to teach him magic as well.”
“You live with his family. Iain will not tolerate you keeping him from them in their timeline for the time you would need to truly teach him.”
Caintigern nodded. “That is true.” She stood. “Iain, take me back to my home.”
“Return to here and you will take me to my home,” Nightraven said as he stood.
“I will.” He held out his hand to Caintigern and she took it. He wrapped her in his power. “Step.”
The universe folded around them and they were standing on a ridge overlooking a plain. In the foreground stood a large castle. An army was arrayed in front of it and defenders lined the walls. Overhead, gold, silver, red, blue, black and green dragons fought in a polytechnic display of color and light as fire, lightning, cold, acid and clouds of poison were used. Colored blobs between the dragon’s shoulders suggested they all had riders. “Step.”
They emerged next to Caintigern’s cottage. “And here we are,” Iain said as he tugged on his hand.
Caintigern tightened her grip. “A moment, Iain. I need your help, but I cannot demand it.” He cocked an eyebrow and she smiled. “I can demand it, but I do not want to.”
“What is it?”
“I want to teach you magic and I want you to be my student in magic. As my mate, I want you to be as strong as you can be. I need your help to make this possible.”
Iain’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You’ve been watching my family and how they interact with me.”
“I have. You did not ask me not to. I have learned that asking for your assistance is more productive than demanding it.”
“With the understanding that I am not agreeing to anything yet, what help do you want from me?”
“You are going to drive the dragonesses crazy with fury and desire when you go on this mission, even if you use the smaller dragon form you showed us. I want to establish a place where I can teach you. It will have to be on another world so you can learn from me without spending large amounts of time away from your family here. I am not widely traveled. I would like a world like the one Nightraven lives on. It has the resources I will need to teach you properly.”
“Finding a world that does not have a Nightraven on it may be difficult,” Iain said. “It may take some time.”
“That is not important. If it is not the Nightraven that we already know, I can kill her if necessary.”
Iain stared at her for a moment. “That might be a really bad idea. Let me see what I can do first.”
“You will help me?”
“I need to become as powerful as I can and this will hopefully keep you and Nightraven from feuding over me.”
Caintigern settled down on a bench that was outside her home and smoothed her skirts. “I do not wish to do this just because I resent the time Nightraven can spend with you that I cannot. I want you to become as powerful as you can, both to aid us in the war with Blacktooth and because you will help raise our children.”
“I have the opportunity to learn from you, one of the Queens of the People. You have access to the magical teachings of the Queens before you.”
“I have read and will recreate all of the books in the Royal libraries,” Caintigern said. “I will make them available for you. In time, I will copy them for you.”
Iain chuckled. “Apparently I can be as ambitious as any pokegirl or dragoness of the People. I would have to be out of my mind to tell you no.”
Caintigern smiled again. “I had hoped you would feel that way. I will teach you as I would teach one of the Princesses, so that one day she could take the throne from me and become Queen. Never has a drake received this training and never has anyone who is not part of the Royal bloodline and a daughter of the reigning Queen been allowed to even see it.”
Iain eyed her suspiciously. “What do you get out of this?”
“I get my mate. I ensure he is powerful enough to resist the random attacks from an inferior dragoness who is angered when she waves her tail under his nose and he ignores not only her presence, but her entire existence.” Her smile faded. “I had one child while I was a Princess and thirty nine when I was Queen. I had little to do with their upbringing. Servants raised them for me. As a result, I will need your help raising our children because I don’t know how to do so. I need you to stay alive to be available to help.”
“I’ll find you a place to set up a stronghold. I’ll need a little time to do the explorations.”
“I will try to be patient,” Caintigern said. “Now you must return to Nightraven. Return here for the rest of your lessons when she releases you.”
“I will.” He stepped into the closest shadow and vanished.
***
Iain watched Rosemary grab some of the dinner dishes and head for the kitchen before looking at April. “You and Ninhursag stick around for a minute, please. I need to have a quick word with the two of you.”
“I’ll get her.” He watched as she slipped through the dispersing dinner crowd and touched Ninhursag on the arm. Then they headed for him. “Ok, we’re here.”
“Let’s step away from everyone else so we can do this privately.” Iain led them away from the picnic area. Once they were out of easy earshot he smiled. “Theodora, please initiate sound dampening for the three of us.”
“Done,” her voice said from his right.
“Thank you.” He realized he was still holding his dinner napkin and tucked it into a pocket. “I’ve got a bit of news and it’s got both good and bad elements to it. Caintigern has decided that it’s time to start teaching me her form of magic.”
“I thought she said she’d take a few years to learn this world first,” Ninhursag patted a nearby tree before leaning back against it.
“She obviously changed her mind,” April said. “How will this affect your schedule?”
“It won’t. She’s establishing a teaching facility in a different universe and will teach me there like Nightraven teaches me at her place. That means that for each session I’ll only be gone for seconds here.”
April’s mouth set. “When does she send you on a seven hundred year long mission?”
“From what she’s told me so far, she isn’t going to use the truewizard approved exclusive Nightraven trademarked training program.” Iain shrugged. “I get the distinct impression that she’s planning something that keeps me close at hand most of the time.”
“But she didn’t make you any promises,” Ninhursag stated flatly. “Did she?”
“She did not,” Iain admitted. “If she does anything like that, I’ll let you know just as soon as I can and before I go on this mission even if I’m not supposed to tell you beforehand.”
Ninhursag folded her arms over her chest. “Swear it.”
Iain didn’t hesitate. “I give you my word of honor that if Caintigern sends me on a mission lasting for a century or longer, I will find a way to inform you that I am going on said mission before I go on it, even if it means disobeying the instructions Caintigern gives trying to prevent me from telling you. If she sends me on a mission and I later determine that it’s going to take a century or more, I will return here to explain what’s going on or otherwise somehow communicate to you what has happened and how long I think I’m going to be gone.” He smiled. “I’ll also ignore anyone that might try to tell me to drag out my absence from here while on a mission like that.”
April smiled back at him. “Just to be certain, I may require your oath on that last specific point later.” She rested her head on his chest. “Hold me.” Iain wrapped her up in his arms. “How do you feel about this?”
“Just like you, I want to become as powerful as I can be. In my own way, I am just as ambitious as any of you. I will not enjoy the time away from you but if it means I am better able to protect the people I love, in the end it will be worth the cost to me.”
Ninhursag pushed away from the tree and draped her arms around him from behind as she rested her cheek against the top of his head. “Are you going to marry Caintigern?”
Iain chuckled. “That has not come up. I don’t love her either.”
“Could you?”
“I’m not sure it matters if I can or not.”
April lifted her head. “Explain that one, mister.”
“She comes from a culture where love isn’t a factor in most relationships. They don’t marry. They mate for children and with what they think is the best drake at the time. And the dragoness is usually the one who decides when the relationship starts and she is usually the one who decides when it ends. When a dragoness of the People wants good company, she seeks out her friends among the other dragonesses. The drakes do the same, although a particular drake will have far fewer friends than the average dragoness because they’re in a competition with all of the other drakes to be chosen by the best dragonesses.”
April shook her head. “That sounds like a shitty existence.”
“It works for them. It is not my idea of anything fun, though.”
“But you’re one of the People,” April pointed out.
“No, I am Iain. I was raised human, and I only look like one of them and have their genetic code. I don’t think like they do, which means I am not one of them. I think I understand their society well enough that I could probably fake it well enough to stay hidden if I found myself among them, but I am no more one of the People than Lorena and Aaron are Nigerian and not Texan.”
“Are you going to fuck her,” April asked teasingly. “She is kind of cute.”
“That hasn’t come up either. But if it did, I wouldn’t kick her out of bed, although she’s not liked enough to eat food in my bed like you two are.”
April giggled. “You let us do that because we often eat the food off of you or you eat it off of us.”
“I am not denying that you might be right,” Iain laughed. His laughter faded away. “I wanted to tell you two just as soon as I could. Oh, and you will need to test me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Caintigern had me take her to see Nightraven. Nightraven kept me for five years because she’s Nightraven.”
April winked. “Have you fucked her yet?”
“Lady, you have a one track mind. No.”
“Her loss,” Ninhursag murmured.
“Our gain,” April countered. “Ninhursag, do you want to help with his testing?”
“He’s already getting a foursome out of this,” Ninhursag said. “I think I’ll just get him later. I’ve got a new Elfqueen he needs to bond and I think I’ll share her with him because he’s been good.”
Iain made a grumbling sound. “Sex, sex, sex, that’s all you women want from me.”
April kissed him on the nose. “No, we want more than that. We want good sex from you, not just sex.”
“Fine,” he rumbled. “You’ll get good sex.” They all laughed.
“Who is your bedmate tonight,” April asked.
“Ganieda.”
“You know, we’ll put off your endurance testing until after breakfast. I am not interested in fighting her for you right now. She’s been working very hard to improve and she’s getting to the level of Zareen scary in a fight.”
“Isn’t that what you want?”
April shook her head. “I won’t stop her from getting to that kind of level, and the more people we have who are that good the better. But the truth is that my standards for training are lower than that, if only because very few people will ever be that good and I will not hold my clan and certainly not my sisters to a standard that they can never meet.” She sighed and pushed gently away from him. “When is her training supposed to start?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve been tasked with finding her an appropriate world to use for teaching me. I’ll start looking in the morning during my free time. I have an idea I want to try and it will mean I will travel by gate, so I’ll be returning on the Danger Room and going through the return protocol on a regular basis until I find her someplace appropriate. That’ll take time here. Using my free time means I don’t have to make you adjust your schedule around my travel.”
“I thought you need your free time for your studies,” Ninhursag said.
“I do. However, this is important. I will try to get the job done as quickly as I can. Fortunately there are only a couple of requirements a world has to meet and I should be able to determine if it does meet them in just a few minutes.” He looked at April. “When do I get tested?”
“After breakfast. I’ve got to move a few things around.” She sighed. “We don’t have time for the return orgy.” Her eyes unfocused for a moment. “I’ve just told Ganieda to wear you out tonight and to take notes for me.” She winked. “She says she’ll do her best.”
“You know,” Ninhursag noted amusedly, as she stepped around to join April. “He’s never gotten weaker while away, only stronger. Do you really have to set up special testing for him for every return?”
Iain gave her a look. “Don’t you try logic with me, woman, not on this. This is important.”
“I expected you to say that since it gets you laid a lot.” Ninhursag smiled. “I also expect April to try very hard to come up with a justification that I’ll accept so she can continue doing what she’s been doing because it gets her laid a lot too and it’s not subject to the rules for rotation. She gets a lot more off the books time with you than anyone else because of it. The only reason there hasn’t been a revolt over it is because only a few people know what’s going on and she’s coopted most of them into being somewhat involved with the program. Because of that, they don’t want to disrupt it either since it means more time for them with you too.”
Iain nodded. “You don’t sound happy about those events. Are you asking for a ruling on the situation?”
April inhaled sharply as Ninhursag looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “Yes, yes I am. Even if I am involved, I believe it is inherently unfair to the rest of the harem and it sets a bad precedent.”
Iain looked at April. “She’s right. It is everything she believes it is.”
“Fuck.” April took a deep breath and let it out. “I’ll stop it and make sure it stays stopped. Do I owe anyone an apology?”
“None was asked for,” Iain replied. “I love you.”
April chuckled. “The power in those three little words still astounds me. Sometimes I do wish you weren’t quite so evenhanded and honest.”
“Only when it negatively affects you.”
She nodded. “Of course.” Her eyes twinkled. “You do realize that I’m going to punish you more on the other endurance testing since I’m not getting laid right before it.”
“I don’t think I’ve asked for a ruling on that,” Iain replied with a smile. “I haven’t ever complained about the testing you do. I’ve complained during it, but that’s because it sucks to go through. It’s still helping me improve.”
“Who can you ask for rulings on things,” Ninhursag asked.
“I don’t think it’s come up,” Iain frowned thoughtfully. “I’d say Theodora, but all three of us know she is not impartial when it involves me. And the rulings are supposed to be impartial, at least as much as possible.” He grinned. “Otherwise April’s fuck Iain to exhaustion program would still be going on.”
“Daya would be the same way,” April said.
“She would. I guess, at least right now, the answer is nobody.” Iain shrugged. “I am the Grey and, if necessary, I can put my foot down about something if I feel it’s wrong.”
“You have never done that because you are the last person who can objectively evaluate if something isn’t right if it involves just you,” April said with a smile. “You’ll never find that is isn’t.”
Ninhursag looked thoughtful for a second. “Who, then?”
Iain shrugged. “And we’re back to nobody. I’ll survive, if nothing else because nobody here would deliberately put me in a situation where I had to die. Anything else I can endure.”
“Were you someone’s prisoner while you were gone,” April asked.
“A couple of times. Never for long, though. Thanks to previous events in my life, it turns out that I have developed a severe allergy to torture. Shocking, I know, but it’s a thing.” He smiled. “And Ganieda is asking where I am.”
April nodded. “I’ll begin restructuring the testing program for you in the morning. Do you want to run the obstacle course before or after breakfast?”
“If I do it before, you’ll have to give me time to clean up and feed Elizabeth.”
“That’s part of breakfast and I will.”
“Then let’s do it before breakfast.”
“That’s a goodly amount of sleep you’re giving up,” Ninhursag pointed out to April.
“That just makes it a good correction for me and what I was doing beforehand, doesn’t it? I was doing something wrong, and I deserve to lose a little sleep over it.”
“April, nobody said anything about having any sort of issue with what you were doing before now,” Ninhursag reached out and stroked the Duelist’s cheek gently. “You only get to punish yourself if you do it again.”
“She’s right,” Iain added. “And, by the bye, I am declaring this conversation is at an end.”
April chuckled. “Fine, even though you can’t stop me if I decide to punish myself.”
“If I thought you were that self destructive,” Ninhursag said quietly, “I’d set Theodora and Daya to monitoring you and tell them to refuse to let you invoke privacy during that time.”
“Ruling, Iain?”
“In that situation,” Iain said quietly, “Ninhursag would be out of line and I’d override her.” April stuck out her tongue at Ninhursag and everyone laughed. “Ganieda is on her way,” Iain continued, “and I will wish you a good night. Theodora, the meeting is over.”
“Sound dampening concluded,” Theodora’s voice said as Ganieda walked into view. Iain took her hand and they vanished.
***
“Why does April think I’m pregnant and doesn’t believe me when I deny that I am?”
Iain chuckled. “Why are you asking me?”
Bellona’s dark blue eyes bored into his. “Because I believe she thinks that because of something you told her. Did you tell her that I’m pregnant?”
“I did not.”
“Did you insinuate that I was pregnant?”
“She probably thinks I did.”
She looked surprised. “You admit it?”
“I don’t lie for fun, Bellona.”
“You lied to April.”
“No, I didn’t. I never said you were pregnant, and I never said you weren’t.”
“You were fucking with April?”
“Essentially, yes. That is often kind of fun, especially since everyone likes to do it to me from time to time.” Have you been read into Orb Weaver and Cross Spider?
Bellona blinked. No.
Then come with me to a secure room on the Danger Room and I’ll read you in.
Bellona took his hand. “Let’s go.”
The secure room had a table with chairs and a display as well as a couch and some stools for people with wings or tails. Iain dropped onto the couch and pulled Bellona down next to him as the door slid shut. “The room is secure,” Theodora announced.
“Thank you.” He slid an arm around Bellona and pulled her against him.
She chuckled. “I’ve been warned that if I intend to have a serious discussion that might include disagreeing with you it might be best if I don’t let you touch me during it.”
“You’re not moving away from me,” Iain pointed out.
“No, I’m not. Don’t give me a reason to decide I have to.”
He laughed softly. “April was going to read you into Orb Weaver, but apparently she hadn’t had a chance yet. I’ll let her know when we leave here that she doesn’t have to.”
“So what are these programs?”
“The short version is that Orb Weaver is a plan to make us stronger by adding more pokegirls and pure blood humans to the clan. It has three components, two of which are at the clan survival level and are need to know. As our intelligence specialist, you will be involved with both to some degree and I will want some special help from you on one of them; if you’re willing to provide it. The first component is waiting until Mariko comes of age, because she’s important to one of the other components.”
Bellona raised an eyebrow. “This should be interesting.”
“Barn Spider is an operation to find a pokegirl world where we’re not known. We intend to infiltrate it and establish an identity so we can purchase pokegirls and bring them here. They will add to the clan’s strength and assist with Cross Spider, which is a plan to find a human world without pokegirls, travel back in time to roughly the year 1300, place Mariko on the throne of Nippon and conquer it, turning it into clan and giving us a rather large genetic pool of humans to draw upon. Some of the pokegirls from Barn Spider will be used to enforce clan law and speed the process along and keep our new clanswomen honest, as well as help us fight the Nipponese and whoever else decides that there is some profit in becoming our enemy. We’re also looking at buying slaves from the surrounding Muslim governments and anyone else and freeing them to add to our gene pool.”
Bellona was gaping at him. She pulled her mouth shut with a click. “You don’t think small, do you?”
“The original idea behind Cross Spider was Kasumi’s. We quickly realized that Barn Spider was required to make Cross Spider more viable and so it was added to Orb Weaver.”
“What would I be doing?”
“Overall, you’re our spymistress and we will desperately need intelligence. While Theodora and Daya can help with elint, humint is equally important and you’re our expert on that. Other clan members, including me, will be placed at your disposal as needed.” He shrugged when she continued staring at him. “No, Shikarou wouldn’t have subordinated himself to you and I’m not him. You know more about this than I do, and I listen to my experts.”
“You aren’t a telepath, right?”
“I am not.”
“Then stop knowing what I’m thinking.” She smiled. “Or at least pretend you don’t.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He frowned. “I guess I can’t ask you for the other thing I wanted. You’re going to be busy as hell for a while.”
“What else did you want?”
“I will have to investigate the Nippon world to see if it can be what we’re looking for. Mariko will be a kami and I wanted to be a yokai and I wanted guards who looked the part and who were lethal. Originally I wanted Ganieda and Scheherazade, but I have since realized that Scheherazade isn’t exactly a good fit.”
“Oh?”
“She’s spent too much time being a Celestial. She thinks a lot more like one now and I need killers who will act without hesitation or discussion if I tell them to kill someone, but who are smart enough not to be thugs about it.”
Bellona cocked her head. “And you thought of me for that role?”
“And I thought of you. You’re perfect for that role.”
“That’s flattering.”
“I’m glad you think so. I was also hoping you could help me with Ganieda’s bad habits.”
The Dragonqueen blinked. “What bad habits?”
“She sometimes plays with her kills more than I’d like. If it’s not important, it’s not important and she can take all the time she wants, but I don’t want her wasting time if I need her for something else. In the kinds of situations we could easily get into, I very likely will.”
“And you want me to help train that out of her?”
“I think you might be the only person who could.”
Bellona kissed him on the cheek. “You are doing a very good job at trying to manipulate me. That’s some very tempting bait. Why not just order me to do this for you?”
“You already have a lot of responsibilities as you build us a humint intelligence operation here. You will be tasked with helping build intelligence networks on both worlds and I don’t want to overload you any more than is absolutely necessary. Since I’m not an expert on how this stuff works, you are the one to decide if you can help me with something else while doing it.”
“Do you play with your kills, Iain?”
He shook his head. “If I want someone dead, I kill them as quickly and as efficiently as the tools I have at hand allow. As far as I am concerned, that falls under torture and torture is one of those things I try really hard to avoid because it opens the door to more torture later for less critical reasons.”
“If you need someone questioned by torture,” Bellona said quietly, “I am very good at it.”
“And once again, I will let you, as an expert, do something I don’t do as well as you do, or might enjoy way too much. Or both.”
Bellona stroked his braid. “You really aren’t anything like Shikarou,” she said softly. “He believed he was an expert at almost everything. He did know how to do a lot of things, but it was hard for him to let go and let someone else do it.”
Iain flashed a smile. “Oh, I do intend to learn everything you’ll teach me about building spy rings. As for torture,” he shook his head again. “One day I will be very powerful and, on that day, I do not want to have a taste for doing terrible things to people as entertainment. And since I don’t have to torture anyone, I shouldn’t.”
“You don’t?”
“I have you to do it for me. And, if you can’t get anything out of them, I can always examine their memories or plug them into Theodora or Daya. I’d rather you get the information though.”
She looked surprised. “Why is that?”
“Memories are exactly that. A memory of an event includes everything that the person I got the memory from experienced, felt, thought, smelled, tasted, everything. Because of that, I don’t like having other people’s memories in my head. Besides, they can be just as addicting as anything else.”
Bellona nodded. “I have to go to both places to start recruiting. Being your guard would give me a decent cover identity while I do. I’ll tell April I need to go through the guard training program and why.” She grinned. “Besides, it sounds like this could be a lot of fun.”
“I will try to make it so.”
“I do have one other question.”
“What is it?”
“You’re trying to get Candace and Elizabeth pregnant, right?”
“Yes.”
“Are you trying to get me pregnant?”
“That’s two questions.”
She stuck out her tongue. “The second one is the real question, Iain.”
“Candace and Elizabeth both asked to become pregnant. Do you want children right now?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been pregnant,” Bellona said in a suddenly unemotional voice.
Iain looked surprised. “I’d have thought that, if nothing else, the Conservatory would have had you undergo a parthenogenic pregnancy so they would have your genetics for their rare pokegirl program.”
Bellona shrugged. “They didn’t.” Iain could hear the pain she was trying desperately to hide from him.
“Their loss. As soon as things settle down a bit, would you like to get pregnant?”
She looked away from him. “Do you want me to?”
Iain took her chin in his hand and turned her to look at him. “Yes, I do. You will be a great mother and you will give me strong children, whether they are pokegirls or dragons.” He frowned. “For all I know, they will all be dragons. I’ll have to ask Theodora to run some tests.”
Her eyes were big as she stared into his. “You want me to get pregnant.” He nodded. “You don’t love me.”
“Bellona, I would not have brought you into my family if I didn’t think I could love you. Nothing I have seen or experienced with you has changed that belief. Now, if you want to wait until you know I love you and you love me before we have children together, that’s fine.”
“You brought Candace and Elizabeth into the family. Does that mean you think you can love them too?”
“It does.”
“Can you love any woman?”
Iain shook his head. “No. I wouldn’t have wanted to add several of Shikarou’s women to my family.”
“Who?”
“Yushiko, Roisin, Nanu and some others. And not Poppet or Branwyn, either.”
“That makes sense. You have Marguerite.”
“True,” Iain admitted, “but it’s more that they’d both be very disruptive because they’re used to being in charge and they’re used to going around people to get what they want. It has nothing to do with not having more than one Unicorn or any other breed in the family. Ninhursag has done a good job as maharani and, other than a few little issues that we have already addressed, I have not had a complaint about her. And before you ask, any problems I have with someone are the business of me and that person only.”
“What would you have done to Branwyn or Poppet when they went around you to get what they wanted,” Bellona asked curiously.
“In the end, there is only one leader and it is me. I decide who will be the maharani and I will decide who will not. If someone has a problem with that, it will be explained to them, once. After that, I and the maharani that I have chosen will deal with this individual until they do comprehend that I am in charge. If we decide to use other members of the family as tools in expanding the troublemaker’s ability to understand things, that’s part of what you’re here for.”
She nodded slowly. “I like your reasoning, but then I am a huge fan of discipline where discipline is needed. I would like to wait until we love each other before I have children. I’m a pokewoman now and I’d like our relationship to be stable in case I have a human child.”
“When.”
She frowned. “It isn’t certain that I’ll have a human child, Iain.”
“If I get you pregnant often enough it is.”
She blinked. “You intend to keep getting me pregnant until I have a human child?”
“Yes and no. It’s not that I plan to keep getting you pregnant until you have a non pokegirl child, who by the way is going to be a half dragon. It’s that I intend to keep getting you pregnant. And I will keep getting you pregnant until you tell me to stop.”
She stared at him. “What if I don’t tell you to stop?”
“Then we’re going to have a lot of children.”
The Dragonqueen smiled slowly. “I’ll try to keep that in mind once we start trying to have a child. Many of your women have long hair. Should I grow mine out for you?”
“Many of my women, as you call them, and of which you are one of, don’t have long hair,” Iain pointed out. “Do you want longer hair?”
“Not normally. Every time I grow it out it annoys me when it gets smacked around by my wings.”
“Then you have two options. You could grow it out and try keeping it up most of the time, which, in my opinion, kind of defeats having long hair.”
“I agree.”
“Then you don’t grow it out. I happen to think you’re beautiful as you are.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Beautiful? I don’t think I can remember the last time someone called me beautiful.”
“I can. It was about seven seconds ago.”
Bellona stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head slowly as she chuckled. “I can’t argue with the truth. By the way, what is the third component of Orb Weaver?”
“It’s the one I listed first, that being Mariko growing up. It gives us a timeline for when we can proceed with Cross Spider. We will go ahead and set up the locations now so we’re ready to go then.” He glanced at her. “What are your plans for tonight?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“I feel the urge to top someone.”
Both eyebrows rose. Her eyes searched his and she slowly smiled. “Someone is feeling more powerful than they should. I might want to top you.”
“Bring it, woman.”
Her smile widened. “I will. What time does your domination start?”
Iain grinned. “Your domination starts at 2100. Don’t be late. Make me wait for you and it’ll just get worse.”
Bellona rose, grabbed his wrist and pulled him to his feet so they were nose to nose. “In your dreams,” she whispered.
Iain kissed her and pulled back when she started to press against him. She made a soft noise of protest and he grinned again. “We’ll see who is dreaming tonight. Theodora, unsecure the room.”
Bellona chuckled and gave him a quick kiss. “You know, one of the ways in which you are very different from Shikarou is that he would never give up enough control to let me top him. I am glad you will, sometimes.”
“Just remember that the operative word is ‘sometimes’.”
She tucked her arm in his. “I remember. Sometimes you let me top you and sometimes I top you anyways. What are you doing next?”
“Magic class with the other wizards. You?”
“Monica had requested to undergo the same physical conditioning she underwent when she was in boot camp. Her harem will be training with her.” Her teeth gleamed in her grin. “It’s not up to our standards, but it’s a start.” She cocked her head curiously. “When are they joining the family?”
“We’re working on it. In fact, we’ve got a date next week.”
“Good. Now let’s go.” She dragged him out of the room.
***
“You cheated,” Bellona’s voice carried no heat as she preceded him up the stairs from the doorway to the Danger Room.
Iain grinned cheerfully at her back. “Of course I cheated. You are much stronger than I am, and cheating is the only way I can get you into restraints and still let you fight me with all of your strength.”
They stepped into the hallway and Bellona stepped into his arms. “Thank you,” she said simply.
“Are you going to be all right? You’re still walking pretty stiffly.”
“You almost dislocated my leg. Everything from my hips down hurts.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t hear the safe word.”
She chuckled. “No, you didn’t. And you didn’t use it when you were in the restraints.”
“True, but I heal faster and more completely than you do right now. Do you need a healing cycle?”
Bellona nodded. “I won’t be able to sit down comfortably until I do.” She smiled. “And I’m not getting one. I’ll make sure I won’t bleed through my clothes and I’ll let Candace heal me up before bedtime. She’s not interested in domination, but she’s interested in what we do to each other.”
“You are a masochist.”
“Somewhat, yes. I am also somewhat of a sadist.” She kissed him gently. “And the fact that you are not a masochist, not in the slightest, and yet you still let me top you is an incredible turn on.”
“I’ll try to keep turning you on then.”
“Thank you.” She kissed him again. “Now I’ve got to go see if I need more bandages.” She hurried off as he headed outside.
He heard the chickens making excited noises as he let himself through the airlock and into the coop. Inside, the chickens had already been fed and Kasumi was gathering eggs with Mariko following closely behind her. As Iain watched, Mariko surreptitiously slipped an egg from the basket while Kasumi was focused on a fussy hen and popped it into her mouth, bit down and swallowed.
“Mariko!” Both Mariko and Kasumi turned to look curiously at Iain. “You do not steal from family.”
“I did not steal anything, Father. The eggs are to be eaten.”
“You stole that egg from Kasumi because you know she wouldn’t have let you have it otherwise.”
Kasumi gave her daughter a surprised look. “You took an egg? I told you to wait until breakfast.”
“I am hungry now.”
“If everyone held that attitude, there wouldn’t be any eggs out here for people to eat at breakfast,” Kasumi said. “There wouldn’t be any chickens to produce the eggs because they’d have been eaten too. If you want me to nurse you, I will do so whenever you wish, but if you want breakfast like we eat, you will wait to eat it just like we do.” She knelt and looked Mariko in the eyes. “And if you again ask me for something and I tell you no, and you then take it anyway, I will punish you for it. You will not be disobedient. I will not tolerate it.”
Mariko looked from Kasumi to Iain and back to Kasumi. “Yes, Mother.”
You are very lucky, Iain sent to Mariko through his twee. I know more about you than she does. I’d punish you right now because you know it was wrong, otherwise you wouldn’t have waited until her attention was elsewhere before you took the egg. But I will abide by your mother’s wish in this. This time.
Mariko turned wide eyes on him. I understand, Father. I will not do that again. She turned to Kasumi. “Mother, I wish to apologize to you for my behavior. I will not behave so unseemly again.”
Kasumi put the basket down and hugged Mariko. “Good. I accept your apology.” She stood, picking up the basket as she did. “Now I must finish collecting the eggs so we can eat breakfast.”
Mariko moved over to Iain as Kasumi went back to gathering eggs. “You said I cannot steal from family,” she said quietly. “Who can I steal from?”
“Kasumi would probably say you shouldn’t steal from anyone,” Iain replied. “I think that you must do what you must do if your survival hangs in the balance. Outlanders will not always help you and sometimes you will have to take things from them without their permission. However, the goal is to steal as seldom as possible. People remember thieves. And if you want to truly be memorable, being a thief is not how to go about doing it.”
“Will I understand the distinction more when I get older?”
“Hopefully you will. Sometimes, however, understanding only comes with harsh, painful experience.”
“If I need this experience, will you help me to acquire it?”
Iain chuckled. “I will.”
“Thank you, Father.” She looked up at him. “Will you hold me?” Iain scooped her up in his arms and she snuggled against him. “You smell as good as Mother does.”
“That’s subjective. I happen to think Kasumi smells a lot better than I do.”
“I am finished,” Kasumi said as she joined them. “And I am packed for our trip.”
“Good. We’ll leave right after breakfast.”
“I want raw meat,” Mariko announced.
Iain smiled at her. “No problem. If you want oatmeal, oatmeal you will get.”
“I said raw meat!”
Iain held open the inner door of the airlock for Kasumi. “It’s all right, I heard you the first time. Fortunately we have lots of oatmeal.”
Kasumi gave a low laugh as Mariko glared at him. “You’re mean,” she said firmly.
Iain shut the inner door and opened the outer door for Kasumi. “I am. But you haven’t seen me be mean yet.”
“Mean is not letting me have what I want for breakfast.”
“Hey, oatmeal can be a great breakfast. And it doesn’t make all of the other kids whiney about not having raw meat, which they’re not going to get. I may even have oatmeal too.”
“Can I have a fried egg with my oatmeal?”
“I think that’s possible.”
“Ok.”
***
Kasumi watched the portal to Twenty Three open with an uncertain expression on her face. “I am not comfortable about this.”
Iain shrugged. “You insisted on doing this. If you take guards then certain individuals will try to insist that I take guards. I didn’t have guards the whole time I was there and I’m not going to start having them.”
She nodded. “The fact that I am not comfortable without them suggests I have grown too dependent on their presence, doesn’t it?”
“I think it’s more complicated than that,” Iain said. “They are your guards, yes. They’re also your harem and, finally, they’re part of our family. They have been with you for most of your life. The truth is that you have never really ever been alone. You’re not alone right now either, since I’m with you, but you have never been alone. You’re not used to having so few people around, and that is contributing to your being uncomfortable.”
“I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Kasumi said slowly. “I still do not like it, but I think you might be right.”
“The important thing to remember is that if we do invade a Nippon like you want, we’re all going to be incredibly busy for a long time. There will be much more work than we will have warm bodies available to do it for a great number of years. That will last until we can bring some of the locals into the clan and put them to work helping. We’re going to be spread out a lot thinner than we’re used to and a lot more than either I or Ninhursag is going to like.”
Kasumi took his hand. “I am glad to learn you have been thinking about this.”
“I’m the man in the box. I have to think about all the weird things.” They walked through the gate and into his bedroom in the valley. “I know you haven’t been here before. Do you want a quick tour before we go?”
“Next time, please. I want to meet Keanellos today.”
“Very well.” The portal closed as Iain led her out of his bedroom and down the hall. “We’re going to the hanger where we’ll take my ship.”
“We are not going to teleport?”
“I’ve never been to where Keanellos is,” Iain replied. “He isn’t waiting at home for us to come and visit. He’s in the field, commanding an army that’s getting ready to fight an orc horde. His scouts are still hunting the horde down, so we should be able to visit and leave before the engagement begins.”
“Does that happen often?” Iain glanced at her and she smiled. “The orc hordes. You sound so matter of fact about it that I wonder if it happens so often that you’ve become blasé about it.”
Iain shrugged as he opened a door. “Hordes form from an individual or group of allied orc tribes roughly every fifteen to twenty years. For most people, orc attacks are like bad weather. You do what you can to prepare for them and endure it until is passes. If it destroys your town, you flee and return later.”
“Most people?”
“I take a dim view of marauders attacking our clanswomen. When a horde attacks us, we destroy it, take prisoners or interrogate the dead, find out where its home base or bases are and then we destroy them too. It dramatically cuts down on future attacks.” He gestured ahead of them where a hammership rested on struts inside an immense stone chamber. “And there is the Lemon Sour, our transport. There’s a ladder on the starboard side you can climb on board with. You go on ahead while I do the preflight inspection. The galley has a collection of snacks and drinks and I’ll heat water for tea after we get underway.”
Kasumi smiled eagerly at Iain. “This is going to be fun. I’ve never been on a flying ship before.” She headed around the hull to the boarding ladder.
A few minutes later, Iain clambered up the ladder and pulled it up. He looked around for Kasumi and frowned when he didn’t see her. A quick check with his perception showed she was exploring the hold. Do you want to be up here when I take off?
Yes! I’m coming. Iain settled down in the command chair as Kasumi appeared from the hold. “What are all the boxes and bundles in the hold for?”
“After we finalized this trip, when I next returned here I contacted the quartermaster corps for Vyshaan and checked to see what supplies Keanellos’ army needed. They told me he didn’t need anything. That was kind of odd. Armies always need something. So I asked Helesatra and she checked and found out they hadn’t received a treats shipment recently. That being the case, I put one together. Morale is important and food is important to morale. I want troops in the field to eat as well as they do in garrison or at home. It isn’t possible to accomplish that, but what we can do is send them luxury foods that don’t need any or much preparation on regular intervals to break up the monotony of field rations and whatever the army’s quartermaster can purchase from the locals. These shipments also help to keep gleaning down to something reasonable. And since we severely punish unauthorized gleaning, keeping it down is a good thing.” He smiled grimly. “The quartermaster corps is one of the holdouts from when Vyshaan was the Vyshaantar Empire, and their commanding officers don’t agree with the idea of care shipments and tend to let them slide. Helesatra will use this opportunity to remove as many of the recalcitrant officers as she can without screwing up the queendom’s politics too much. She’ll execute a few and formally cashier the rest of them. It’s an ongoing process but we make incremental steps as often as we can.”
“You have to listen to politics?”
“Most of the people she’ll be getting rid of are nobles or the children of nobles. We have to listen to them, at least somewhat, until they get replaced or die off. It’s easier in the clan proper since I built it from the ground up. Our nobles support us wholeheartedly. That and the clan has a lot fewer of them than Vyshaan or Keltormir.” The ship lurched and rocked gently. “And we’re airborne.” He smiled as Kasumi jogged for the railing. “I’m opening the exit.” Light spilled over them as the roof of the chamber they were in lifted out of the way. The ship rose straight up and out of the chamber. Iain drifted the Lemon Sour sideways to watch as the hatch closed.
“What now,” Kasumi asked from the railing.
“I’m opening a portal to the closest point I have been to before that’s on the way to Keanellos,” Iain replied as a gate opened in front of the Lemon Sour. “After we exit, we’ve still got a six hour cruise to get to where the army is.”
“That long?”
Iain smiled at the disappointment in Kasumi’s voice. “Oh, you’ll be busy the whole way. I’ve got something for you to do.”
The Lemon Sour flew through the gate and into a bright, cloudless sky. It climbed as Iain synched his twee with the satellite constellation. “I wish there were more clouds. They make us harder to spot.”
“There isn’t a cloak?” Kasumi watched the ground recede as the ship accelerated until there was a brisk breeze.
“This is not one of the Theodora’s creations. I took a hammership and retrofitted it with technology, but with only a minimum of it. There is a cloak, but it is very basic. It doesn’t work well if the vessel is moving. It doesn’t even have a much of real autopilot. It can retrace a proven path, but it doesn’t have much collision avoidance ability, My twee interfaces with it and provides the expertise it needs to get us successfully from one place to another for new routes or ones in which it needs more detailed guidance.”
“Are their manual controls?”
Iain shook his head. “By design, it does not have any manual controls. All control is through a twee and that if you know the passcodes. It makes it much harder to steal. I’ve just sent you the access codes in case you need them.”
“Thank you,” Kasumi said. “What is it that I will be doing for the rest of this trip?”
“I’m sending you some information that Mariko and I compiled. Right now it’s in your subconscious, which is where it really needs to be. You carry some of Shikarou’s blood, the blood of Toyotama-hime and my blood. All of those lines are shifters. You should be able to shift to a draconic form without using the bracelet. You’re going to practice until you can. If necessary, I’ll feed you more of my blood until you can’t drink any more of it.”
Kasumi smiled brightly at him. “Can I have more of your blood even if I do master this without it?”
“Did you pester Shikarou for his blood? I do notice when you claw me up and then lick my blood from your hands, my skin, and anywhere else you can find it.”
Kasumi met his gaze. “When Shikarou gave me his blood, it was good, but your blood is wonderful. It tastes right. I think it’s my body trying to absorb your power so I can grow more powerful, so I can be a worthy wife and mate for you.” Her smile faded. “I am ashamed to say that I am jealous of how easily Mariko shifts. I want that for me.”
Iain put his arm around her and she leaned into his side. “We’ll get you there. You need to know this so you can help me with Mariko.”
“Do you think she’ll be able to fly?”
“I talked to Yuko. According to her, none of her line except her ultimate grandfather can fly and he’s a god so the rules are rather different for him. However, flight is an easy spell to put into a ring and I suspect Mariko might get such a ring on one of her birthdays, when her mother thinks she’s earned it.”
“I don’t have much experience making magic items, Iain.”
“Dominique and I do. More importantly, we can teach you how it’s done.”
“Does Dominique make magic items the same way you do?”
Iain chuckled. “No two mages enchant things in an identical manner, even if they were once mistress and student. They can create items with the same effects in them and to get a particular effect there are certain rules and steps you have to follow. Anyone who enchants magical items knows these rules and we all follow them, but the process of how we get there is different for each mage. It’s part of the fun of magic.”
“Then what can you teach me?”
“How to make and enchant magic items,” Iain replied. “The process is fairly complicated, but what we will do is teach you how it is done and help you explore how you will customize what we teach you into a system that works for you.”
“I would like to learn that.”
“You will. But today we’re focusing on getting you to shift to a draconic form. And don’t worry about the Lemon Sour. It’s held my heavy butt and Arithallos’ slender and lithe form at the same time. It’s also held the weight of two adult gold dragons. Unless you’re the size of Typhonna, it’ll hold your weight too.”
“What did I tell you about insulting the man that I love,” Kasumi asked with a frown.
“I’m not insulting him. Me. I’m a lot larger than Ari is in her dragoness form. And I said heavy, which I am. I didn’t say fat or obese or anything like that.” He held up his arm. “Now, the first shift can be the hardest and I thought we’d cheat and let you charge up with my blood before you started trying so you’ll be as ready as you can be.” He yelped when Kasumi leaned forward and bit his wrist. “Hey!”
Her eyes twinkled. “Give me blood! Or do I need to sit in your lap like Elizabeth does?”
“You don’t have to, but you are welcome to.”
Kasumi guided him into the closest chair and settled daintily into his lap. “While it’s never soft, I do find being in your lap very comfortable. I belong here.” She wrapped her fingers around his wrist and pressed her lips gently over the arteries as her eyes stared hungrily into his. Her breath was warm on the skin of his wrist as she spoke. “What must I do?”
***
Kasumi’s full sized Nipponese dragon form was thirty meters long. It was less slender than Mariko’s form, and much more muscular, so she weighed more than her appearance would suggest. Her scales were steel blue on top that faded to an off white on her underside.
It turned out that she could also assume different lengths, although it had taken a bit of work she’d insisted on. Right now she was about one and a half meters long and gamboling around on the deck while Iain watched. “Kasumi,” he called. Instantly she went still as her head snapped around to look at him. “Are you ready for the final test?”
“What is that,” she asked curiously.
“Go to the center of the deck. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get a box from the captain’s cabin.”
Kasumi flowed sinuously to the middle of the deck in a blur. “Will it be fun?”
“Just wait.” Iain was back a moment later with a small box tucked under his arm. He opened it and looked inside for a second before his hand darted into the box and he pulled out a rabbit by the neck. “The test is your first hunt.”
Kasumi’s body contracted as she coiled up for a spring. Her hindquarters quivered as she dug her claws into the deck. “Yes,” she hissed in a low voice.
“Just let it happen,” Iain said quietly. “You know how to do this. Later we’ll analyze what you’re doing and I’ll show you some ways to improve your technique, but right now do not overthink this. Three. Two. One.” He tossed the rabbit to land in front of Kasumi.
She launched herself at it when it was at the top of its arc. The rabbit didn’t have time to squeal as she snatched it from the air and bit down savagely. She landed easily, pinned the rabbit to the ground with her forepaws and tore into it, gulping it down in only a handful of bites. She sniffed the air in his direction. “Do you have more, my husband?” Her eyes brightened. “My mate!”
“I didn’t bring any more rabbits, but I did bring some other foods for you to try.”
Kasumi shifted to her human form. “I would like to try them. Are my taste buds different when I am a dragon? That rabbit tasted delicious. I should not find raw rabbit to be that good.”
“It could also be that your perceptions of what tastes good and what does not may have changed now that you’ve come into more of your power. If you’re willing to experiment, we can science it later and see.”
“I am willing to experiment.” She raised an eyebrow. “Is this why you didn’t let me bring my guards? They would have been dead set against teaching me how to become a dragon.”
“The reasons I laid out earlier are valid,” Iain replied. “And, yes, this was another reason. Your guards don’t like you getting stronger any more than mine like me doing so.” He shifted to his elf form.
“What of your undead harem?”
“That’s different. They want me to become as strong as I can be so I can keep from dying and joining them.”
“And they are always with you, are they not?”
“I have only Iolite on me right now and she’s only with me because we’re here and can be attacked at any time. A few centuries ago I weaned myself of having to surround myself with them. They’ve got important things to do, and I believe I can defend myself long enough for them to get to me if they need to.”
“I see.” She tucked her arm in his and leaned against him. “It’s nice being alone with you again.” She squeezed his arm. “Where are these other things that you had for me to try?”
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
1048 Elves & Elfqueens
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
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
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)