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Grey Chronicles
Thirteen
(10/01/06 0700 Jeff Davis County, Texas League)
Eve landed in front of a neat looking two story house with a synthetic plant roof and let Iain go. He turned and watched as Ninhursag and Canaan landed beside them. Ninhursag gave him a curious smile at the expression on his face. “What?”
“I never expected that.”
Her silver eyes twinkled merrily. “What, you’ve seen a horse fly and you’ve seen a dragon fly. You have even seen a house fly but you’ve never seen an Elfqueen fly?”
Iain couldn’t help it. He began laughing so hard he had to sit down.
“Hello?” The questioning voice belonged to a young man a little shorter than Iain. His eyes flicked over the group. “Is someone here Iain Grey?”
Iain got his laughter under control and managed a half bow from where he sat. He was still chuckling when he spoke. “I am Iain Grey. Ninhursag here managed to misquote a Disney movie at me and it caught me off guard and made me laugh. The blue-gray woman is Canaan and the blue haired woman is Eve. Ninhursag is my Elfqueen.”
A small black object blurred through the wall of the house behind the man. It skidded to a halt in front of Iain, revealing it to be a black centaur pokekit with red eyes and hair wearing a pink frock on her human torso. She suddenly grinned widely and climbed into Iain’s lap. He winced once when a tiny red hoof sank into his groin. She settled down and leaned back to press her back against his stomach so she could look up at him, still with that grin. She giggled.
Iain held very still.
The man looked surprised. “Winona has never taken to a stranger like that before. Some of Kerrik’s women are still trying to get her to accept them.” He shrugged philosophically. “I’m Caradoc Bishop. You’ve already met my daughter, Winona.”
A tall, busty pokegirl with pointed ears peeking out through her emerald hair almost ran out of the door to the house. “Caradoc,” she began, “Winona,” she broke off when she saw the strangers. Her bright green eyes focused on the kit in Iain’s lap and her face went cold. “Release my daughter this instant.” Eve, Canaan and Ninhursag tensed.
“Naomi.” The pokegirl glanced at Caradoc when he called her name. “Winona went straight for him and got into his lap by her own choice. He hasn’t touched her. This is Iain Grey and his harem. Iain, this is Naomi, my maharani.”
Naomi’s mouth dropped. “I see.” She bobbed her head towards Iain. “You have my apologies. Winona never likes strangers, at least not until today.”
Iain smiled at her. “If you would like to retrieve your daughter, please go ahead. If she insists on spending time with me she can do it later. I don’t want to get attacked because she’s suddenly decided to act so out of character and become affectionate towards me.” He glanced down at the kit. “Shima might not bother to ask what’s going on before chopping me into tiny bits if she thinks she’s protecting Winona.”
Naomi blinked as she knelt in front of Iain and gathered up Winona. The kit didn’t protest although she did hold out her arms yearningly towards Iain. “You know Shima?”
“I know of her. We’ve never met.”
“Ah.” Naomi brightened as she stood. “Kerrik must have warned you about her.”
Iain held up his hand and Eve used it to jerk him to his feet. “This is Eve. Canaan is the blue girl and Ninhursag is the Elfqueen and my maharani. Like my message said, we’ve come to trade.”
“I’m Naomi and I’m Caradoc’s maharani.” She eyed them curiously. “We knew you were coming, but I’m not sure what you wanted to trade for.”
Iain waved at Ninhursag and Eve. “I’ll let the ladies discuss that.”
“We have seeds, plants and techniques in trade for what you have, Naomi.” Ninhursag slid the backpack off of her back and dropped it to the ground beside her. “We came here from a world like the one that the Havens came from. We knew we were coming, so before we left there we bought a lot of different varieties of seeds, all of which are heirloom and will breed true. We’ve brought seeds and cuttings from some plants and trees that will never breed true like apples and oranges. As for techniques, if you and I can examine what you know, I may have some ways to enhance your powers. I’m establishing my own queendom, but it is eleven hundred kilometers away and so I don’t see why we can’t be friends and possibly allies.”
Naomi frowned. “Wouldn’t it be easier to be allies first and friends later?”
“Perhaps, but I refuse to ally myself or my family to someone I can’t respect.” Ninhursag smiled in a friendly manner. “Please understand that we already know more about you than you’re going to be comfortable with, but because of that I respect you.”
Caradoc looked at each person in turn, his eyes pausing at the Splice’s antennae. “I see Canaan is some kind of psychic. You need to know that we find searching someone’s mind without permission to be an insult where I come from.”
Iain sighed. “I know it is and the fact that we know more about you than you’re going to like is my fault, not Canaan’s. I have some kind of ability to see across dimensions and I have seen you and your harem in the Tropic League before we came to this world. That’s how I know you have sugarcane and coffee plants that we’d like to purchase as well as the fact that none of your girls know the technique called energy blade. I propose a trade of being trained in the technique in return for some of those plants.” He smiled. “Among other trades, of course.”
Eve fixed him with a look. “I thought we were handling the negotiations.”
“You are. Mostly.” He shrugged. “I know that Raven has been holding off on teaching energy blade to Caradoc’s women and it’s too useful for them not to have it.”
Caradoc looked at Naomi. “Is he right?”
She nodded. “Raven keeps finding a reason not to teach us. Usually she claims that everyone in Kerrik’s harem is too busy. It’s a valid excuse with all of the work we’re doing, but even Morwen knows the technique and could take a day to teach it to me or Shima. Until Iain mentioned it, I didn’t consider that her delays could be deliberate, but it makes sense considering who she is.” She looked at Ninhursag. “I have to ask how long would you allow for an instructor to do this?”
“She’ll be here for as long as it takes. If we agree to teach in response to a trade, I’m not going to put a time limit on it unless you’re complete idiots. You’re not stupid. The progress you’ve made in the short time since you became an Elfqueen proves that.”
Emerald eyes narrowed. “Just how much do you know about us?”
“You’re not going to like it,” Ninhursag cautioned. “You might want to withdraw the question.”
“It sounds like I need to know.”
Without another word, Ninhursag pulled a thin reader from her pocket. She keyed it live and handed it to Naomi. The green haired Elfqueen shifted Winona to one arm and read for a few minutes. Suddenly she hissed and turned to Caradoc. “She wanted to geld you? I killed Janine too quickly. Why didn’t you tell me how much she hurt you?”
Caradoc blinked owlishly at her before focusing on the piece of electronics in her hand. “Let me see that.”
“No.” Naomi cradled the reader against her chest. “I’m not done yet.” She lunged as Winona squirted from her one handed grip, hit the ground and raced off. “Damn.”
“Excuse me,” Iain said softly, “but are you beginning to understand what I meant when I said I saw what was happening in the Tropic League? I wrote that based on what I saw.”
“I want to keep this.”
Iain looked at Ninhursag, who nodded slowly. “You can, with certain conditions.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed again. “What conditions?”
“Try to trust us a little while you’re getting to know us. We are not here to try and hurt anyone. Understand that sometimes we’re going to know something that we shouldn’t, but that we’re not trying to use that to gain an unfair advantage. It’s just that Iain knows things that it should be impossible for him to know.”
“How is Jabez,” Caradoc asked suddenly.
Iain regarded him for several seconds. “He’s well. After discovering what he thinks happened to Hamilton, he took Cardenas’s oath of loyalty and made her the administrator to the Falmouth region. He’s considering sending you a message via his pokedex.”
Bishop frowned. “What does he think happened?”
“He thinks Cindy killed Hamilton.”
“What do you think happened?”
“You killed Hamilton.”
Bishop regarded him evenly for a moment. “How do you feel about that?”
“I’d have killed him too and not lost a moment’s sleep over it. I agree with Tirsul. Rape is a capital crime.” Iain reached out through his twee. Why doesn’t Winona have a twee? If Kerrik won’t provide you with one for her, I will.
Bishop blinked. I assumed he had a reason, but it might have been merely that I didn’t ask for one for her. I would appreciate one from you if you would be willing.
I’ll deliver it within the next few days, Iain assured him.
Caradoc frowned slightly and moved past the negotiating pokegirls to stand next to Iain. “What resources does your clan have and what can you provide if we’re interested in trading for it?”
Iain had been prepared for the question. “I have my own asteroid processing ship. Somewhat like Kerrik, I’m trying to force the Texans to build their own manufacturing base, so I’m going to be supplying them with some supplies, food and raw material to give them the time to start rebuilding. However, for you I’ll consider any request.”
Caradoc nodded. “I think helping the people of this world rebuild is a good plan. Our children will be intermarrying with them and if they’re dependent on us for everything they’ll resent us too much. I would like some wagons and other items. I’d scrounge for them, but Kerrik owns pretty much everything around here and he’s demolishing the closest towns for raw materials for his industrial weaver. I have a small weaver that’ll provide for a lot of the things I need, but there’s still a lot of items that could be manufactured locally and would help but are impossible to find.”
“Like what?”
“Plows.”
Iain nodded. “We’re looking at those too. Theodora recommends an anti-balance plow setup so that all of the girls with enhanced strength or speed can help with plowing instead of sticking it just to my equines or the Elves.”
“What is that?” Both men turned at the new voice. The pokegirl was solid black with red hair and eyes. She was wearing a knee length dress and holding Winona in her arms. The pokekit’s eyes were locked on Iain and a grin was plastered across her face. “Anything that keeps me from having to pull a plow should be thoroughly investigated.”
Caradoc smiled. “This is Shima. Shima, this is Iain Grey, the visitor I was telling you about.”
Iain nodded towards the Nightmare as he pulled out his pokedex. “If you’ll join us, Shima, I’ll show you.” She moved to stand with Caradoc as Iain activated the holographic display in omnidirectional mode. The view was an overhead shot of a field. Two tracked engines sat one on each side of the field while an unusual looking plow moved back and forth between them, pulled by a cable. With each pass the engines moved a little down the field, shifting the plow with them. “An anti-balance plow has two sets of plows, one facing in each direction. It’s pulled from one side of the field to the other by these engines while someone rides and steers the plow. At each end, it raises the plows it was using and drops the ones that weren’t used so the field is furrowed in the same direction with every stroke. Theodora designed the engines with some pretty massive flywheels for power storage. By using a treadmill and crank attachment along with the proper gearing, any pokegirl with enhanced speed or strength can add power to the flywheel and then go do other things while the field is plowed by someone else, if desired. At proper intervals someone will add more energy to the flywheels until the day’s work is done.” He dropped his voice. “To make things easier, the coulters are almost monomolecular sharp and will cut through rocks, roots and pipe without slowing much.” He killed the display. “Ninhursag is going to seed the fields first with clover and use plant roots to shatter rocks and whatnot as much as possible before we start plowing.”
“I’m impressed,” Caradoc said slowly. “You’ve been thinking this through.”
“The world we came here from has had pokegirls for three hundred years. A lot of what we’re using we pinched from there, but some of it, like the flywheel power supply for farming, is new. A lot of what Ninhursag can teach Naomi will be new to her because some of it died with Sukebe and some of it was the result of three hundred years of Elf experimentation.”
“I want this.” Shima eyed Iain briefly. “And what is this going to cost us?”
“My prices will be fair.” Iain rubbed his forehead. “Understand that I respect what you’re doing here and I want us to be on good relations if at all possible.”
Red eyes regarded him with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. “Why?”
Iain pursed his lips while he thought about how to answer that. “Naomi has an electronic reader that tells a story that I saw and wrote down. I wrote that story because I liked it and I liked the people in it. I’d like to be friends with them. That story is about you, Caradoc, Naomi, Veronica and everyone else in your farm. I saw more than that, too. I saw your pasts, so I know what lives you’ve led. I saw Caradoc’s family die and I felt his pain. I saw Naomi fight her battles and problems that she had. I saw your battles too.”
“I doubt you saw anything of the sort.”
Iain eyed her for a second before rolling his shoulders in a shrug. “You were decanted in a manufacturing facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.” Shima blinked at him. “There were two hundred in your production run but Nightmares have always had problems with the growing process and only ten of your birthing group survived to be decanted. That’s one of the things that contributed to pokegirl frequencies. They were manufactured in equal numbers but some had a lot more problems growing in artificial wombs than others. The rarest pokegirls often had entire production runs fail to mature properly. The reason why this occurred was something that Sukebe never figured out. Jusenkyo water was his attempt at a workaround since he could use it to convert humans directly into pokegirls. That last bit is because your best friend before you went feral was a Nightmare who had been a human man and was converted via Jusenkyo water, level fived to destroy his personality and then given a new identity as a pokegirl soldier. She did die, by the way.” He smiled sadly. “Is that enough, Shima?”
The Nightmare’s eyes were wide and she was clutching Winona so tightly that the infant was beginning to protest. She looked down and relaxed her grip. “It is, Iain Grey. How do you know this?”
“I have some magic of my own and it flows in strange directions. Unfortunately, I’m still learning about what I can do and how, so I can’t tell you much else.”
“Do you watch us now?”
He shook his head. “I do not. I am not sure I can and I have not tried.”
She nodded. “Do not try.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“That was not an agreement.”
“No, it wasn’t. However, I don’t try to watch my friends.”
Shima turned to Caradoc. “Be his friend,” she said flatly.
He chuckled softly. “I’ll see what I can do.”
***
(10/03/06 1100 Grey Farm, Texas League)
Ninhursag collapsed on the ground next to Iain and reached for the cooler of lemonade. She drank deeply and leaned back with a tired sigh, holding the thermos towards him. “Refill.” Iain pulled the decanter out of a side pocket of his backpack and filled the cooler up. “Thanks.”
They’d learned the hard way that leaving the decanter of endless lemonade out to drink directly from was dangerous. Using the proper command word would cause it to shoot forth three hundred gallons of liquid every minute, but even without that if upended it would continue to pour out icy lemonade forever at ten gallons a minute. The flow varied depending on how much of an angle was put on the decanter, but was directly proportional. In comparison to the full flow rate it wasn’t a large amount of lemonade, but there were some unseen problems with it. Zareen had been kind enough to bring one of them to light.
The Nightmare had been training with the harem and headed over for a drink. She liked the sweet tartness of the lemonade so made a beeline for the decanter sitting on the drinks table. Every other time someone had been around to take it from her after a quick drink, but this time she was alone. Still in her equine form, she’d tilted the decanter back and tried to empty it. Needless to say that didn’t work. Questioning her twee afterwards, it admitted that she’d drank for a good two minutes before the vomiting had started.
After reviewing the circumstances surrounding the event, it had been decided that henceforth all lemonade would be put into half gallon coolers for drinking. Iain usually had custody of the decanter.
Ninhursag drank again. “I am exhausted.”
“Do you need cycled?”
She smiled. “It’s the good kind of tired you get after doing something you love, Iain. I want to enjoy it for a while first. I haven’t done this much plant growing since,” she paused and looked thoughtfully at him, “I don’t think I’ve ever done this much. Most of my life has been war, not this.”
Iain nodded. “Do you want to scale back our plans?”
The Elfqueen looked startled. “You’d do that for me?” She answered herself before he could. “Of course you would. No, I don’t want to scale back. This is good for me. My power will only grow from here. Besides, I have Dionne and Adrianna helping with the Elves.” They were the two Elfqueens that had shown up from Fort Polk. Iain had seen them but hadn’t met either one of them except in passing at breakfast.
And it had definitely been in passing. He’d been up for a few hours already and was going out the door of the employee’s dining room when they were coming in. He’d said hi and they’d looked at him curiously before moving on.
“I need to meet them and the Elves.”
“We’re planning to have a meeting tonight where the newcomers will introduce themselves to you and I’ll explain the rules about outer harem, inner harem and satellite harem.”
“It’s called satellite clan.”
Nihursag shrugged. “That’s what it’ll be for the humans who eventually work here but to a pokegirl who belongs to the clan it is all just different types of harem.”
“Is that what that pitched battle with Heltu two days ago was about?”
Ninhursag gave him a look that wasn’t entirely friendly. “If you know much more about things you’re not supposed to know anything about I’m going to start telling people you’re part celestial or psychic. How’d you find out about it?”
“Theodora told me there was a fight but said that privacy rules indicated that she couldn’t discuss why unless clan rules were broken. Do we even have clan rules to break?”
Ninhursag nodded with a faint smile. “Heltu found out one. She learned claiming that you’re in the inner harem when you’re not will earn you an ass kicking.”
Iain’s eyebrows rose. “She isn’t that stupid, is she?”
“No, she just has not had anyone higher on the food chain than she is for a long time. She took the defeat with surprisingly good grace. Once I proved to her satisfaction that I deserved to outrank her, she was fine with it. I think we’ll see a lot of that from veterans of the Revenge War, especially those who were officers in Sukebe’s forces. They’re used to chains of command, it’s just that they’re not used to being bound by those chains anymore.”
“Higher on the food chain? That’s one of my sayings, isn’t it?”
“We do listen to you, Iain.”
“Have you considered what might have happened if she’d won? Or if the next one wins?”
Ninhursag nodded. “It’s not going to happen, Iain. I’ve got three hundred years of experience and power building on anyone here. Unless she’s a legendary I’ll win ninety nine percent of the time and I’ll cheat for that one percent.”
“Cheat? There are rules in a battle?”
“Let’s just say that Eve will use her precognition to tell what my opponent will do next and she’ll keep me informed.”
“Yeah, that does sound like cheating.” He shrugged. “Whatever works.”
Her gesture encompassed everything around them. “But to get back on topic we’ve still got a lot of work to do on the defenses, but we made a good start this morning.”
Iain pulled out his pokedex and activated the display. “Theodora, please show me.”
A hologram of an overhead view of the ranch appeared in front of him. In the middle was a circle five hundred meters across. Inside this circle was the bunkhouse as well as the place where the family’s tents were put up and taken down every day. Outside that circle a wide band had been plowed around the entire circle and divided into rings for planting. A single dogleg track was marked out in the band for entering and leaving so that people coming in wouldn’t have a straight line they could travel. Iain was considering mining the track with command controlled mines but hadn’t made a final decision on it yet.
On the very outside of the plowed band berry seedlings had been sprouted in a thick ring all the way around the property, thanks to the work Ninhursag and her court had been doing the last two days. It was mostly great grape, but every other berry was represented. Inside from the berry plants would later be planted a band of sugarcane. Inside from that was going to be a ring of tobacco. It had a lot of uses besides smoking and a thick layer of the bitter tasting plant would encourage ferals to stop in the berry and sugarcane region. Iain was also going to be growing marijuana in small sections of the tobacco ring, both for its medical qualities and because some people would be willing to purchase it for smoking. The last and innermost ring was turnips, onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and barley. Ninhursag was planning orchards and more fields of crops that would be outside the band, like coffee.
Caradoc was building a coffee and sugarcane plantation and Iain didn’t intend to try to compete with him. But he did want coffee of his own so he wasn’t dependent on someone else. The sugarcane and the barley meant beer and Iain was looking forward to finding out what great grape wine was like.
Ninhursag made a contented noise as she looked over the display. “It’s going to be perfect.”
It might be perfect except for the fact that you still do not have a house.
The Elfqueen grimaced. “Theodora, nagging us is not going to make us consider faster.”
No, but nagging Iain might.
A thinly veiled sense of anticipation layered with glee in Theodora’s mental voice made Ninhursag given him a suspicious look. “What are you planning?”
Iain looked innocent. “Me?” He grinned in the face of her sudden scowl. “Theodora is pushing me to set a deadline for decision making, after which she’s free to do what she wants with our new home.”
“I thought we could take our time thinking about what we wanted in a home.”
Taking your time is not the same thing as taking forever, which is what this is turning into. You and the others are not willing to sit down and discuss or even think about what you want. You all plead that you’re too busy. Well, I never said I’d give you unlimited time and I want Iain to force you. I do not want our first child born in a tent. All of you perform well under stress. It is when you have time to relax that you become lazy. Right now you are busy, but you are not stressed. A definite and short deadline would give you something to stress over.
Ninhursag started to snap something and stopped herself. A wry smile appeared. “You call yourself the maharani of Iain’s inorganic harem.” Iain looked startled. “You sound like a maharani more and more every day. Iain, I agree with her. A deadline is what we need.”
Iain had a slightly wild look about his eyes. “I have an inorganic harem?”
Don’t worry, Iain. You don’t have to add me to your bedding list. After all, I can curl up in your mind anytime I want. The fact that Ninhursag’s expression didn’t change at Theodora’s smug tone told Iain that Theodora was only talking to him. It’s something I’ve taken to calling myself since I am the only member of your inorganic harem.
Ninhursag must have heard that for she snorted a laugh. “It is funny, Iain.”
“Yeah, funny.” He shook his head. “How long?”
Today at midnight?
Ninhursag reacted to that. “We need at least a week.”
Fine. A week would be October 10th at 1115 hours.
“I said at least a week.”
I heard you. If Iain gives you a week, you’ll take a week. If he gives you a month, you’ll take a month. And by then Vanessa would most likely have given birth.
“She has a point,” Iain said mildly.
Of course I have a point.
“Now that,” Iain replied, “is arrogance and it isn’t attractive in someone so cute.”
You think I’m pretty?
Ninhursag burst out laughing. “Now she definitely sounds like a pokegirl.”
“She sounds like a lot of women I’ve known.” Iain shrugged. “Men too.”
I don’t think you find men pretty.
“That is beside the point. You are right about how they’ll dawdle if given a chance. Ninhursag, you’ve got a week from right now.”
That would be October 10th at 1117 hours.
“You heard the lady, Ninhursag. The clock is ticking.”
***
(10/03/06 0800 outside Covenant, Kingdom of Haven)
Raven appeared and let Eve go. She looked at the violet haired pokegirl waiting for them. “Gwen, this is Eve. She’s part of Iain’s harem.” She scowled. “I really think I should threaten you at this point to be on good behavior with her but Kerrik wants me to cut back.” Her scowl faded and turned into an amused smile. “But then Eve doesn’t need protected by me. She’s more dangerous than you’ll ever be, Neo.”
Gwen bristled. “I don’t think so.”
Eve gave Raven an unhappy look. “I am not here to cause trouble with anyone, Raven, and I don’t appreciate you trying to generate friction between Gwen and me.” She turned to Gwen. “I am a Megami-sama and I am not here to fight anyone. I’m here for Iain and, hopefully, to see Kasumi.”
Gwen smiled slowly. “Good answer. I’ve killed Megami before. You should be afraid of me.”
“May I get my tamer?”
“Sure, why not.” Gwen’s eyes swept over Raven. “Tell Kerrik I said hi.”
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” The Archmage vanished.
“I’ll be right back.” Eve disappeared and reappeared a moment later at their home site on the Grey Ranch. She looked at Iain. “Raven tried to start a fight between Gwen and myself. I think it’s because she isn’t allowed to start a fight between herself and Gwen.”
Iain nodded. “Raven doesn’t like Neo-Iczels. She and they have a history.”
“Is there anyone Raven doesn’t have a history with,” Eve asked acidly as she took Iain’s hand. She looked at Canaan. “I know you’ll be ready to come with the others if there’s trouble, but maybe you should come if you think trouble might be starting instead of waiting until it actually happens.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a preemptive sort of girl,” the Splice reassured her.
“Good.” The landscape shifted around them. “Gwen, this is my tamer, Iain.”
Iain pulled two pokeballs from his belt and activated them as Gwen came to attention. “Clan leader Grey, I welcome you to Haven.” She blinked when the first pokegirl materialized. “Dominique?”
“Hi, Gwen. How’s Mary?”
The Neo grinned. “It’s Dame Gwen and Dame Mary now and she’s doing great. We had a baby. Ok, she had the baby, but we share her.” She patted her stomach. “It’s my turn now.”
“Congratulations on both events,” Dominique said approvingly. She waved at Iain. “This is Iain. You already know Eve and the Elfqueen is Ninhursag.”
Gwen looked Ninhursag up and down critically. “You’ve got to be the biggest Elfqueen I’ve ever seen.”
“Probably,” Ninhursag replied. “I’m the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”
“Well, Lord Grey, let’s get you to your meeting.”
Dominique chuckled. “Don’t bother with that Clan Grey formality bit. He’s not so stuffy that he insists on that sort of thing.”
Gwen shrugged. “That may be, but his majesty says I treat Clan Leader Grey as Clan Leader Grey, so I do.”
“Do I have an appointment with Shikarou that I’m not aware of?”
Gwen blinked at Iain’s question. “We weren’t aware that you wanted one, Clan Leader, so one wasn’t scheduled.”
“I didn’t want one, Dame Gwen. I just wanted to make sure that he didn’t expect to meet with the leader of a clan of twelve or so people.”
“No sir, he doesn’t.”
“Thank you.” Iain glanced at his pokedex, although his twee could give him the time to a precision he’d never need. “Now, I do have an appointment with Ygerna in fifteen minutes.” He frowned. “What title does she have here?”
“Professor is her only recognized title,” Gwen said smugly.
“Ah. Well, would you be as kind as to guide us to where we’re supposed to meet with her?”
“This is a private meeting, sir. Your other pokegirls must leave, go into their pokeballs or remain here.”
Iain looked at Ninhursag, who shrugged. They’d discussed this possibility. “Pokeball for both of us.” Iain nodded and returned her and Eve.
“This way.” As Gwen led them down a paved path, Iain looked around. A lot of the old buildings in view had been demolished or were in the process of being pulled down. New construction was limited, but some of the original buildings showed signs of recent repair. It looked like they were rehabbing the absolute minimum they needed while building new stuff for the future. Later the old habitations that had been repaired would probably also be destroyed to make way for new construction.
Iain glanced at Dominique and reached out through their delta bond. Were you and the other Gwen fast friends?
No, but we were both loyal to Ygerna, which gave us a bond of camaraderie. I was actually a spy for the queen inside the Order until Eoghan was killed. She considered returning to reclaim her throne but the popular conception was that she’d run from Eoghan. It was true enough but she did it so she could continue the fight instead of becoming Eoghan’s leman. Most people didn’t understand her motivations. The fact that the oaths that bound most of us magically transferred to another suggested that her time was over and the ambitious among the Order grabbed on to that idea with both hands. After Eoghan’s death I was both a spy among the Blues for the Order and a spy in the Order for my queen until she left our world for her new one.
Why didn’t you go with her when she left your world?
Bitterness colored her thought. I wasn’t asked to. She looked once in his direction. I would have gone if she’d asked. That she didn’t hurt. I don’t regret it now, because it meant that I met you, but that still doesn’t mean I forgive her for abandoning me.
It was not this Ygerna.
No, but the fact that Gwen didn’t say she knew another Dominique tells me that this Ygerna did abandon her Dominique just as mine did. There wasn’t anything Iain could say to that, so he took Dominique’s hand and squeezed it hard. She squeezed back. I hope that every abandoned Dominique has her Iain.
Gwen led them into a grove of orange trees. A table had been set up inside the grove and a domesticate born Dragoness was standing sentry to one side. Ygerna was sitting at the table and sipping at a goblet of wine. A bottle and several empty glasses sat on the table in front of her. She looked up as they entered. “Iain Grey, Dominique, please sit down.”
Gwen took up station opposite the Dragoness as Iain hesitated. “What should I call you?”
Ygerna smiled. “My liege would sound very nice.”
“I’m not sworn to your service.”
She nodded. “I know, but I could hope you’d let me insist that you are. I am no longer queen even if some still owe me their oaths of loyalty and you have not been my student, so it would be best if you called me by my name.”
She has a twee. It is not yet fully grown but both she and the Dragoness have one. Interestingly enough, Gwen does not.
Iain slid out a chair for Dominique and then sat down beside her. He motioned towards the Archmage. “We are here so you can see her.”
Dominique took a deep breath. “As Iain told you in his message, I am here because I want to be released from my vow of fealty to you.” When Ygerna merely raised an eyebrow, Dominique continued. “I have been summoned once already by the putative king of the Order when he invoked the oaths I made to you. We will be returning to our home world and I don’t want that to happen again.”
“Why did he summon you?”
“He didn’t know I was bonded to Iain and was systematically recalling all of the unbonded pokegirls in so they could be bonded to knights. It was my turn.”
“Why didn’t he take you away from Iain?”
“He wanted to, but Iain is a mage. That wouldn’t have necessarily stopped him but Iain offered him a trade in return for my freedom.”
Ygerna eyed Iain. “What could you offer a mage king of the Order, Iain Grey?”
“I offered to remove the undead creatures that Eoghan had stationed in front of the throne room so that Marcus could sit court on the Order’s proper throne.”
Ygerna blinked so fast that Iain almost thought he imagined it. “You could do that?”
“I not only could, I did. Unfortunately, once he had what he wanted from me he reneged on the agreement. He wanted Dominique for himself.”
“And yet the two of you sit here together. What changed Marcus’ mind?”
“Nothing,” Dominique smiled. “Iain killed him.”
Ygerna made a dismissive motion. “The death of another mortal is nothing.” She leaned forward intently. “How did you destroy those creatures? I went back a few times at the request of the new king and tried several things but none of them worked. My magic only barely managed to keep me from being attacked by them.”
Iain worked very hard to keep the smile he felt from appearing on his face. She hadn’t been attacked by the Legacy of Eoghan because the lich had given them given explicit instructions that she was the one being they were not to kill and not because of her magical prowess. “I didn’t destroy them.”
She frowned prettily. “Then what did you do?”
“I said I removed them. That’s exactly what I did.”
Her frown deepened. “That means nothing unless you put it into perspective. How did you remove them?”
“Eoghan created them to be his servants. However he gave them a way that they could be bonded to another in case he needed someone like Germanicus to be able to give them orders. I used that to bind them to me and told them to stand down.”
“And they obeyed you?”
“At that point they were essentially mindless undead. They had no choice but to obey orders that their proper master gave them, so when I told them to stand down, they did.”
Curiosity filled her eyes. “Were? So you did destroy them. What did you do, set them upon one another?”
“I did not destroy them.” He smiled. “While the verb is correct, you focused on the wrong part of the sentence. They still exist but are no longer mindless.”
“I do not understand.”
Iain nodded. “That’s not surprising. Necromancy is not one of your strengths and most people would have tried to have the living dead creatures destroyed. Eoghan’s servants were liches like himself. He didn’t know how to make other undead and he did not trust the living. But he only knew one way to make liches, by using the same procedure that created both himself and Germanicus. So he kidnapped Dragonesses from your personal guard, making it look like they’d died on your business and made them into liches like him. Then he removed their free will, making them into what was essentially nothing more than mindless automatons. I returned that free will to them.”
Ygerna paled. “Why in the name of everything you hold holy would you do that? They could be as dangerous as Eoghan was.”
“They are. But I want them that way since they’re loyal to me.”
We are bound to obey your commands, my lord, but we are loyal to you because you treat us as much like the living as you can.
Ygerna’s eyes narrowed for a second before suddenly widening as she relaxed. “It is of no import since they are back where you came from.”
“You know, we’re straying a little far afield in this discussion. We are here so you can release Dominique from her oath to you.”
Ygerna rolled her goblet and watched the wine swirl in the glass. “I haven’t forgotten that. I was exploring what kind of master she had managed to find.” Her eyes met Dominique’s. “You have found a very powerful master.”
“Thank you. I think you’re right.”
An elegant eyebrow rose. “You have not used my title today, Dominique, and I have noticed it. I am still your queen.”
Iain started to point out that Ygerna wasn’t really the queen Dominique had originally served and that they were here because they were hoping that any Ygerna could release Dominique from her oath, but the look Dominique shot him as he opened his mouth suggested that she knew what he was going to say and didn’t want him to do it. Instead of speaking he reached for the wine and poured some into a goblet.
“In truth, mistress, you stopped being my queen when you abandoned your throne. In truth, until today you have never spoken directly to me. I was just a page in your service. Even my oath was given to the head of your guard who stood in as your proxy. In truth, after the uprising, I stayed behind and I fed information to your spies. In truth, when you left to come here, you took others with you and left me to rot.” Red eyes met cool green ones. “I have served you loyally for centuries and in truth, mistress, before Iain sent you his first message, you never knew my name.”
Ygerna nodded. “You’re right, I didn’t. But I do know it and you have served me faithfully. Why should you not continue to serve me as you once wanted to do?”
“I no longer serve anyone. I am with Iain and that is where I wish to be.”
“She will not let you go. She has not changed and let’s nothing go. Everything must be paid for.”
Ygerna jerked around at the new voice. Her eyes narrowed at the winged draconic figure standing at the edge of the trees. “This is a private discussion. Leave.”
“I will not leave, former my queen.” Eirian strode to Iain and turned to face the Sidhe. “I am Eirian and I am the maharani of my lord’s dead harem.” She smiled. Iain knew that she was trying to show as few teeth as possible, but when his magic had changed her it had emphasized her draconic features and minimized her human ones. Ygerna’s Dragoness stirred uneasily at her post. “Once I was one of your guard, former my queen, until he who slew me took me and murdered me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“She was one of the Dragonesses that the usurper made into the Legacy,” Iain said quietly. “He took them from your guard Dragonesses. It amused him to make your guards into his.”
“You said that Eoghan got them from my guard,” Ygerna began but jumped when Eirian snarled loudly.
“You do not speak that name in my presence! He deserves no name other than murderer, him and his spawn.”
“Eirian.” Her head cocked so she could see Iain with one eye. “She didn’t know and she is not our enemy.”
“My lord, she is most definitely not our friend and the former my queen does not recognize neutrality unless it benefits her. One is either this Sidhe’s friend or one is nothing. However, I bow to your wish.” She refocused her gaze on Ygerna. “You do not give away anything and Dominique is asking you to give her up. She does not understand that you always exact a price for everything that you release.” She snorted. “Stop that.” Ygerna looked startled. “My binding to you ended with my death. You have no power over me.”
“Eirian?” Iain’s voice was curious.
“Former my queen has the power to command her guards without vocalizing. She was trying to use it on me.”
“I’d forgotten that I’d put it in her notes. She never used it in the stories.”
“My lord, she does not understand the truth of this situation. I must explain it to former my queen. She needs counsel.”
Iain looked at Dominique, who shrugged. “Ygerna, will you accept Eirian’s counsel?”
“I must admit I am intrigued as to what counsel something bound to you would offer. I do not agree to bind myself to carrying out her counsel, but I will listen. Advise me, dead thing.”
“I know you. You give nothing without something in return. If they offer nothing, you will seek to keep Dominique. My lord will see this as a threat to him because of his concern that you can control him through Dominique. That will bother him little. He will also see this as a threat to Dominique. This will trouble him greatly. Because of this, with or without his orders one night we his dead harem will come for you.”
Ygerna’s mouth dropped as Eirian continued. “If you are unlucky, you will be injured to the point of death and then you will die. If you are fortunate, we will take you alive.” The Dragoness held up her right arm. The flesh of the forearm, wrist and hand began to visibly decompose to reveal bone. Ygerna stared at it, her face paling as the process accelerated. “If you are fortunate, we will take you alive and so when you die you will be dragged into unlife with us forever to serve my lord. There is nothing the immortal fear more than the end of life but this is what you will bring upon yourself if you do not heed my counsel. However, former my queen, I also know that you are exceedingly proud and you do not understand that you cannot prevail against his dead harem, so I will make an offer that you should not ignore if you wish to live.”
She became still and her voice lost what little emotional content it had possessed. “He who slew us had missions for us to perform. He was consumed with an unimaginable lust for knowledge and that lust drove him to send us out to copy the information possessed by others beginning almost the same day he created the first of us. We did as instructed. His focus, obviously, was the location of the Grimoire of Danu, but he had us collect every scrap we could find that had anything to do with magic of any sort. We have complete copies of the collections of most of the universities and private magical collections in the world we came from. Almost none of their safeguards could detect us, although the ones at two places did. Nuevo Tenochtitlàn’s security was able to detect us, but they knew that we intended no harm unless attacked and the decision was made that a pitched battle in the heart of their library was to be avoided at all costs. They were unable to track us once we left and pursuit quickly ended. The Wolf Institute’s ghost knew when we arrived, but as we intended only to copy the books in the library he merely observed.”
She cocked her head. The movement was abrupt and startling, like you’d been staring at statue from up close only to have it suddenly come to life. “Former my queen, we have added all of these collections to the original collection of the one who murdered me, which was acquired by him and by his spawn over the thousands of years they were dead. All of that is now here on this world. In return for Dominique’s complete release, my lord would make limited access to our libraries available to you. By limited I mean that you will be given complete access for a limited amount of time and you will not be allowed to remove anything from them.”
Dominique shot Iain a look. You neglected to tell me about this.
I didn’t know myself or I would have. I’d also probably have set up a cot and kitchenette in it too and be living there.
Now that you know, you’d let Ygerna have access to our library?
To free you from her thrall, I would most definitely let her use it.
“How long,” Ygerna asked, leaning forward slightly. Iain got the distinct impression that she was more than a little interested in Eirian’s offer.
“A moon from the commencement of your first visit.”
“At the end of such a short time I could still be exploring such a place if the picture you paint is accurate as to the scope of your library. A hundred years.”
“Ten lives are worth a century and Dominique only has one.” Eirian retorted. “A year.”
Iain sighed. “Ladies?” They both turned to look at him. “While I’m sure you two could negotiate this out to the absolute number of times Ygerna is allowed to use the bathroom at the library, in the interests of not taking the next month to resolve this I think I’d like to offer a compromise. Ygerna gets forty years of unlimited access to the library. She may make copies if she desires and if it’s possible for her to copy the material but she will not be allowed to remove anything from the collection or the place it is housed. She will not be allowed to damage any of the collection and if she does our agreement will be ended at that point. I’ll even sweeten the pot and say that Ygerna’s time only runs while she is in the library. However, this is contingent on her releasing Dominique from her oath immediately upon accepting this agreement and the fact that this agreement is nonnegotiable.”
“Nonnegotiable? What recourse do I have if I do not find this agreement to my satisfaction?”
“You should. This gives you access to a library you didn’t know exists and contains everything from the Pendragon library. However, you are free to refuse this agreement and that is your only recourse.”
“She said the only other option was to kill me.”
Iain shrugged. “Without trying to threaten you, the truth is that Dominique’s oath will die with the person to whom it was given. However, killing you is not the only option.”
Ygerna regarded all three of them shrewdly. “I hope you do know that there is no absolute guarantee that Dominique’s oath can be released by me. Since she isn’t really the Dominique from my universe this may not work. If it does not, what happens to our agreement?”
“Nothing,” Iain nodded towards his silver Dragoness. “Eirian will know if your release should have worked and if that is the case, my agreement with you will not change even if Dominique remains bound to her Ygerna. You will have carried out your end of the bargain and you will still get what I offered.”
“What will you do if it does not work?”
“I have to return to the world we came here from regardless. If Dominique cannot be released by you, I’ll have no choice but to allow Eirian and the rest of my dead harem to hunt down and exterminate every Pendragon we can find.” The surge of eager hunger from Eirian and from Aurum and Beryl where they rested on his arms made him shiver.
“You understand that I am hesitant to reduce my already nearly nonexistent base of supporters.”
Iain frowned. “I know you don’t want to release people, but to be honest, I’m not sure I understand why. You didn’t want to be queen. You decided that the Sidhe had to have a ruler because it was tradition. Since there was only one Sidhe left, that gave the job to you, but it was something that you didn’t want and were never trained to do.”
The Sidhe woman shrugged. “I was not given the chance to decide that I wanted to give up my throne. It was taken from me and by someone who both desired and hated me. How is it that you know so much about me?”
“That’s a long story. I have magic of my own and somehow it lets me know things.”
“Are you Sidhe?”
“No, I am not. I was human. Now I appear to be becoming something more than that, but what I’ll end up as is still unknown. As far as you should be concerned, I am a mongrel.” He hesitated. “I do know of other worlds where there are more Sidhe.”
“And there I would be who I was before. Whether I wanted to be queen or not, I was and am. That is not something that I can easily give up.”
“At least you understand what issues you would have with such a trip.” Iain hadn’t touched the glass of wine since he’d poured it. Now he picked it up and tilted it, watching the light play on the surface of the red liquid as it moved. “I believe I have made you an offer in the negotiations for Dominique’s freedom.”
“Give me a few minutes to consider your offer.” She sipped at her wine while Iain sat quietly with Dominique. The Archmage twined her fingers in his. Finally Ygerna drained her glass. “I agree to the stipulated terms. In return for forty years of unrestricted access to your library I will do my best to release Dominique from her oath so that she is no longer my subject.” She put down the glass and rose. “Let us find out if I can succeed in this.”
Eirian turned to Iain. “I will prepare the library.” Do you have any requirements where the doorway I will establish is to be sited?
No. Is there a limit on doorways?
No, my lord, theoretically there is not. Practically, however the number of doors should not be more than six both for security concerns and space limitations in the vestibule. I do not wish to make doorways that do not open into the vestibule.
In our home in Austin, in the basement section that is not Dominique’s lab I want you to put a doorway to the library. If the home’s security is compromised, we’ll remove it.
An excellent solution, my lord. Your wizard will be pleased at its proximity. Aurum and Beryl both can determine if Ygerna’s attempt to free Dominique from her oath should have worked or not. Eirian turned and strode off to vanish into some shadows.
Ygerna ignored the Dragoness’ leaving and led them deeper into the grove. She stopped in a clearing where sunlight filtering through the leaves filled it with dappled shadows that danced in the slight breeze.
Ygerna moved to the center of the clearing. “Dominique, come to me and kneel.” The Archmage moved into the clearing and dropped to her knees in front of Ygerna. The Sidhe put her hand on her belt and drew a sword that hadn’t been there a second before. Iain wasn’t sure if it had been summoned by her or if it had been hidden by illusion. He decided that right now it didn’t matter as he dropped his left hand to waist just in front of his holstered pistol. SAP rounds might or might not kill her, but if she hurt Dominique he was going to hurt her too.
If nothing else, they’d slow her down enough for him to actually kill her.
Ygerna saw the motion and glanced at him. “You are very protective of her.” Her Dragoness did too and began to sidle around between them.
It wasn’t a question, so Iain just nodded.
“Why?”
“I love her.”
“She is a pokegirl and not human.”
“I’m not going to get into a discussion with you as to whether she is human or not, but in either case Dominique is a person and I love her.” He looked at the Dragoness. “You know; I have guards too and if you threaten me they will act and you will be a dead bodyguard and therefore a failure to your queen.”
“You threaten my queen.”
“I threaten no one. I don’t issue threats. I have not threatened Ygerna and I have made a simple statement of fact to you.”
“Your hand is near your weapon.”
“Indeed it is. That, by itself, is not a threat.” He turned back to Ygerna, ignoring the Dragoness. “Please proceed.”
“Enid.” The Dragoness’ head shifted slightly so she could glance at Ygerna. “Return to your post.”
“Yes, my queen.” Enid moved back to where she’d been standing.
Ygerna began chanting in a language Iain didn’t recognize. I think that’s Old Brythonic, his twee informed him. I have no translation information on this language but it has several similarities with portions of my Welsh, Breton and Cornish databases. I am recording and sending to Theodora for analysis and the start of a new language database.
In Iain’s mind’s eye, he saw a slender green tendril slowly extend from Dominique’s chest. He blinked, ending his ability to see magic and the tendril vanished. He turned the ability back on and watched intently.
The tip of the tendril twisted as if searching for something and abruptly snapped forward into Ygerna’s chest. The Sidhe woman’s chanting faltered for a second and then strengthened. She slowly raised the sword and then made a cutting motion between her and Dominique, severing the tendril. Both severed portions of the tendril dissolved into nothingness as Ygerna sheathed her sword. It vanished, and in spite of Iain’s best efforts he couldn’t determine if it had been hidden in illusion or not. “It’s done. I believe it worked. Rise, Dominique.”
“It did work.” Iain watched Dominique get to her feet. “How do you feel?”
“I felt something there for a second, but now I feel like I normally do.” She turned to Ygerna. “Thank you for being willing to do this.”
“You are welcome. If you would like, I could oath you to me personally so that you could continue in my service without worrying about being summoned by anyone else.”
Dominique blinked and shook her head. “I think I’ll have to respectfully refuse your offer. I was not a volunteer to serve you or born into the Order. I was one of the ones caught and forced to become a member of the Order of Pendragon. Now that I have choice again, I choose to stay with Iain. He’s the one person who, although he hasn’t always treated me nicely, has always been honest with me and treated me fairly according to the conditions as he saw them. He tries to treat everyone he knows that way.”
Ygerna nodded. “I won’t apologize for what happened to you. I had to have pokegirls for my forces and you were an excellent catch. However I will tell you that I am not going to be doing that here.” She looked at Iain. “Is she right that you try to treat everyone fairly?”
“She is.”
“If I were to visit, how would you treat me?” She gestured around her. “Here I am a pariah. Faelan goes out with me but his heart isn’t in trying to build a relationship with me. Shikarou doesn’t like me and,” her voice trailed off.
“And that means that nobody likes you,” Iain finished for her. “I know it’s not intentional, but you get a lot of little slights. Nobody sets out to be deliberately cruel, but they’re still mean to you. I don’t give free passes, but you were willing to negotiate in good faith to release Dominique, so you’re off to a good start. If you were to come to Texas, you’d be judged on your deportment. Until you prove that you deserve otherwise, I’ll treat you with the same respect I’d give to everyone else.”
Ygerna regarded him somberly. “May I visit your land?”
“You may.”
She looked surprised. “No negotiations?”
“I am neither Sidhe nor Kami, Ygerna, and I do not carry their cultural baggage. If you come in friendship, I will receive you in friendship. If you betray that trust bad things will happen. You understand it and so do I. Negotiation isn’t necessary. The only warning you need is that I and my clan won’t treat you like a queen, although I expect you’ll bring more than Enid with you if it’s a protracted visit. When it happens we’ll find a place for them too.” He flashed a smile. “In any case you will need to visit our home in Austin soon so you can travel to the library whenever you want to.”
“Is your home in Austin your primary residence?”
“No, it’s not. Our primary residence is in east Texas. That’s where you’d visit if you came for that.” He tapped the pokedex on his belt. “You can contact me via magic or technology when you’re ready to visit.”
“The library or you?”
“Either.” He looked around. “I need to go collect Gwen before Eve and I meet with Kasumi. She’s our guide.”
“Enid and I will escort you back.” Ygerna gave him an odd look. “I’ve been told that you’re someone important and that you’re supposed to be treated as a visiting dignitary.”
Iain made a face. “Well, that’s a good way to make sure I don’t come back.”
“You don’t feel you’re important?”
“I can’t feel what I’m not.”
Dominique gave him a hard look. “Iain has a bad habit of refusing to recognize his worth. I’m not sure we’ll ever cure him of that.”
Ygerna laughed briefly. “Hope springs eternal, Dominique. Be well.” She led them back to the table.
Gwen was almost visibly agitated. “There you are! There’s been a change of plans.”
Iain leaned over and kissed Dominique on the cheek. “You’d probably better leave now while you still can,” he whispered.
“I have one thing first.” The Archmage pulled Eve’s pokeball from Iain’s belt and released her. “I had him, you got him.” She tossed the ball to Iain and vanished.
Eve managed not to roll her eyes. “Please release Ninhursag. What’s wrong, Gwen? Did Kasumi cancel?”
The Neo-Iczel shook her head as the Elfqueen materialized next to her tamer. “No, that’s not it. His majesty wants to meet Iain.”
“I thought you said I didn’t have an appointment with him?”
“You didn’t. Then. You do now.”
“You want us to,” Eve began.
Iain waved her to silence. “Kasumi has not contacted us to tell us she’s canceled our appointment. An appointment implies an obligation by both sides to be present. It’s an obligation Eve and I acknowledge and intend to keep. I did not have any such agreement with Shikarou and he will have to wait.”
A flush spread up Gwen’s cheeks. Iain knew it wasn’t shame but instead growing anger. “His majesty said he wants to see you as soon as possible.”
“It will be possible after we keep our obligation to Kasumi. Please inform Shikarou of my decision and let him know that if he still wants to see me I’ll be more than willing to meet with him after we’re done visiting with Kasumi.” Something occurred to him. “And if you try to lead us to Shikarou instead of to where Kasumi is waiting, I should warn you now that I’m familiar with the general layout of Covenant and Haven. If you tell me that she’s meeting us at the hotel and we somehow end up waiting for Shikarou to see us, first I’m going to be pissed and second we will leave and blame you for missing our meeting with Kasumi.”
For an instant Gwen’s eyes were slitted with hate and Iain gave a mental sigh. Baiting a Neo Iczel wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done and, while he didn’t care about how Gwen felt about him personally, there was no reason to burn bridges here just because he didn’t like monarchies. “I want to apologize.” The anger in Gwen’s eyes faded slightly and became mixed with confusion. “I know you’re just doing your job and I know you are going to be in a bind if I don’t go along with Shikarou’s wishes, but I asked when we arrived if he wanted to see me and was told no. I made my plans with that in mind. The fact that Shikarou changed his mind over the last hour doesn’t mean I have to rethink my plans. In fact, in my opinion it sets a bad precedent if I do. I am a clan lord and I am not at his beck and call and I don’t intend to be.”
He watched as the anger faded more. “I’m not sworn to him and I don’t have to be here. I know Eve wants to meet with Kasumi, but should we just leave? It won’t help you much but I’m even more hard headed than Shikarou is and in my current mood after his preemptory summons he is not going to like spending time around me. So I’m asking your expert opinion on the situation.”
Gwen eyed Eve and Ninhursag for a moment. “Raven hinted broadly that Eve here could kick my ass. Is that even a possibility?”
Eve shrugged. “Combat is never certain, but I am as strong as you are and have centuries more experience. Even if I can’t defeat you, I have several pokegirls on call including a powerful psychic to jump in and help.”
Gwen grinned suddenly. “Just because my breed is arrogant doesn’t mean I’m stupid. That gives me an out. I’ll tell anyone who asks that I couldn’t force you to see his majesty first without a running battle that nobody would win in the end. That gets my ass out of the fire and hopefully will put you in a better mood for meeting his majesty.” She waved them down the path. “Besides, while nobody talks about it, people who cross Kasumi seem to end up spilling blood not too much later. She’s never around when it happens but I’ve noticed the correlation between events is too consistent to be coincidence. I don’t really want that to happen to me. It could hurt the baby.”
Ninhursag glanced at Iain. “He says that Kasumi is one of the most practical people on this island and it makes her very dangerous.”
Gwen looked surprised. “I hadn’t thought about it, but you could be right. She must be very good at staying under the radar then. I’ll take you to her.”
“Thanks,” Iain said. “I don’t want to get you in trouble so I’ll take all of the blame in this.”
***
Iain Grey
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Peekabu
Vanessa - Evangelion
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Twau
Armsmistress
Blazicunt
Slutton
Ranch employees
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck - Doggirl
Ryan - Ponytaur
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Kitten (Uruguayan)
Allison - Umbrea
Silver – Ponytaur
12 Elves
2 Elfqueens - Dionne & Adrianna
Lake Employees
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
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