The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (38 page)

“And besides, it’ll be fun!” Helemia laughed.  “We’ll make some gains until lunch, then leave Karzog to keep an eye on things while we come home to eat.  Oh by the way, can we use the backyard valley?  We won’t disturb the livestock or anything.”

“You keep them from being disturbed when you’re sparring back there, and that’s generally pretty noisy, so I don’t see why not.” Talia laughed.

“So?  Can we have your authorization?” Reggie asked.

Mark smiled at Talia, and they shared a quick thought.  “All right, since this seems like a pretty good project, you can.

“But before I pronounce it, I want a better idea of your organization and plans.”

“I’m the political leader, Helemia is our General, Valentia is in charge of logistics, and Karzog will be in charge of discipline and moral among the conquered.  Once we’ve convinced a few of the more sensible young Sylvan of the reality of the threat of the demons and the futility of resisting us, we’ll groom them for positions of leadership among their cohort.

“We’ll capture the ones who are about to get killed first, and the ones who are about to kill them.  As soon as we capture them we’ll start turning them to our point of view.  We’ll start training them, and organize things to keep them fed.  Along with training them to fight the demons, Valentia will get them started on taking better care of the forest and waters in the Sylvan area of Hiliani, so it can support their population as it increases.  Which it will, rapidly, once they stop killing each other.

“That’s about all we have so far.  We know we’ll have to keep it flexible, and adapt to events as they happen.

“We’ve told Quewanak that we won’t be available for the exercises until this is done, so that’s okay.”

“Hm.  All right.” Mark nodded.  “Prince Markhan Reginus Longstrider the Sixth, I do pronounce you Governor of Hiliani, with full power to act in regards to the Sylvan of Hiliani in the manner that you’ve described to us here today, to promote and name to positions of authority such personnel as you require to assist you in those duties, and to draw upon the treasury of Hilia as necessary, all subject to our supervision and continued approval.

“And if it turns out that you need some help with it, don’t be shy about asking for it.  We’ll give you as much help as you need, and we won’t take it out of your hands unless you’ve really made a stew of it.  Even if you four are capable of doing this yourselves, you may find that it’s worth it to speed up the process by getting some help once in a while.”

“Thank you Father, on behalf of myself, General Helemia, Vice-Governor Valentia, and Vice-Governor Karzog.  We do solemnly swear to fulfill the duties you have entrusted to us with honor and diligence.”

“Carry on, Governor Longstrider.” Mark chuckled.

“As you will, Sire.” Reggie said as he and his sister offered a formal bow, then broke out in giggles as they looked under their shirts at their markings.  Having just sworn to Hilia, they now bore the marking of the Sword-star of Hilia.

They kissed their parents good-bye, then disappeared with their gear in a perfectly silent Translocation.

“Gods, they’re such adorable little tykes, aren’t they?” Alilia laughed.  “Five and six years old, and our little army is off to play with the Sylvan, and conquer them.”

“I assume you three will be following every second of our children’s adventure with rapt interest?”
Povon psionicly inquired. 
“If so, Kragorram and I invite you to join us here, where we can all watch it together.”

“Thanks Povon, we’ll take you up on that.”
Talia replied as the trio Translocated to the dragons’ main cavern.  “We were going to work with my father today, but I imagine he, Mother, and Hilsith will want to watch this as well.”

She was right about that, Yazadril and his family did want to join them, and word spread quickly across the community.  By noon there were so many people in the den watching the Revealings and following the Readings that they moved the event to the gathering hall.

Reggie’s quad hovered kilometers above northern Hiliani, psionicly listening for the emotions of deadly violence.  It was the easiest way to find those they were seeking.

A fourteen-year-old Sylvan ran silently through the forest, cursing his luck.  Only an hour since his father had thrown him out of the house, and already one of the other wild kids was stalking him.  He’d caught a glimpse of her and thought he recognized her; a seventeen-year-old who ran with one of the big packs, though he hadn’t detected any of the rest of them yet.  Well he wasn’t afraid of any of them, and he knew he was smarter than any of them besides!  Once he got out of their territory and built himself a hut, he’d form his own pack among the other new wild ones and kill all those stupid…

His thoughts were shattered as someone he didn’t recognize stepped out from behind a tree just in front of him and cracked his Shields while thrusting at his throat with a spear.  He was running too fast, there was no time to avoid it…!

The world went dark.

Five twenty and twenty-one-year old Sylvan were cornered on a tiny peninsula, with the sea behind and to either side.  The boulder they were taking cover behind was connected to the shore by a sand bar, and they knew that at any second the pack of three dozen seventeen and eighteen-year-olds would come rushing at them down the sandbar.  They’d called for help, and knew that if they held out for another minute or two, their own pack would surround the younger pack and drive them onto the sandbar, where they would be trapped between the two groups of older Sylvan.  They hunkered down as a deluge of spells crashed against the boulder and their Shields, and cast a few spells back blind, casting around the rock without looking, just to keep their attackers cautious.  The clutched their weapons tight, and waited for the wave of battle-cries that would come with the rush.

“Hold on, we’re almost right behind them!”
their comrades told them.

The tension built, then the shrieks and yells began with the charge, but they didn’t know which group was yelling…

Darkness fell, and consciousness followed the light…

“Wow!  Eighty-seven of them at once!  That was a good one”! Karzog laughed as they Translocated with their unconscious captives to backyard valley, leaving them on the grass in neat rows of slumbering Sylvan.

They checked their prisoners and Healed a few wounds, spent a few moments working together on a girl whose abdomen had been deeply slashed, then went back to their hunt.

As with anything they did, they weren’t just hunting the Sylvan, they were striving with all their will to improve at it as quickly as possible, and they did.  By lunchtime any one of them was capable of conducting the hunt by themselves, with only occasional borrowing of the others’ power for a big Translocation.  But by that time, most of the Sylvan knew that something strange was happening and that people were disappearing, and violence in their area dropped off to almost nothing.

When the three siblings went home for lunch, Karzog was left to guard the sleeping prisoners and listen for violence.  He was the logical choice for this duty, since one of the attributes that he possessed that his three companions didn’t was the inherent and legendary patience of his race, and he wouldn’t hunger for another week so he didn’t need lunch.  His patience was still limited compared to that of adult dragons, but it more than sufficed in this case.

“So, are you having fun?” Mark chuckled as his children sat down to eat.

“It’s okay, but the real fun begins tonight, when we wake ‘em all up and inform them of their new circumstances.” Helemia laughed.

“I take it you’ve been following our progress, since you didn’t ask how it was going.” Reggie stated around a mouthful of bread and soup.  “Any comments?”

“You should’ve worked on the girl with the slashed guts before you Healed the rest of that batch, not last.” Talia stated.  “But it’s a minor point, since she wasn’t close to death.  Other than that, excellent work.”

“You’ll soon be out of room for prisoners in the backyard valley.” Alilia pointed out.  “Where will you move your operations then?”

“Here.”
Valentia replied, speaking psionicly since her mouth was too full of salad to talk politely, as she cast an Illusory map of Hiliani over the table, with an island on the north-west edge of the archipelago just to the west of the Sylvan area lit in blue. 
“It’s defensible, it has a good water supply, and the best ocean fishing in Hiliani is just offshore there, which we’ll need for the food supply.  We’ll move them over tonight.”

“We’ll have to work harder to catch ‘em now.” Helemia stated.  “They know that they’ve been disappearing and they’ve mostly stopped fighting, but we’re pretty well focused in on their psionics now, so we’ll still be able to find ‘em.”

“Did you notice we got two adults too?” Reggie asked.  “Presumably they were just fighting and wouldn’t have tried to kill each other due to their god’s ban on it, but that wasn’t really obvious when we grabbed ‘em.  As soon as we realized it, we put ‘em back and let ‘em wake up, but they sure know something strange happened, so they didn’t keep fighting.  It increases the chance that the rest of the adults will figure out what’s going on sooner than we thought they would, but if so, we’ll just have to deal with it, I guess.”

“We’ll be pretty busy with this for a while, but we’ll still come back for lunch every day, and to sleep, and for time off.” Helemia added.  “But we’ll be sleeping in shifts to keep an eye on things.”

“Oh by the way,” Mark said as he sliced meat for a sandwich, “I was thinking about what you said, about not swearing the Sylvan to justice, but still needing to be able to trust them to stay on Hiliani and not interfere with us here.  So if you fetch the Truthstone I gave you, I’ll take the Compulsion and the automatic casting of Osbald’s Oath off of it.  Then if you reach an agreement with the Sylvan and you want to be able to trust that they’ll stick to what they promised, you can have them swear to it on the stone.  They’ll probably want you to swear to keep your parts of it too, which would be redundant under your vows of justice, but it won’t hurt anything.”

“That’s good thinking, Father.” Reggie nodded as he Summoned the stone and handed it over.

“Povon, Talia and I made you up some rings while we were watching your exploits this morning.” Alilia said as she Summoned a small wooden box to the tabletop beside Valentia.  “They’re based on the bracelet Povon wears, and they were her suggestion.  Kragorram actually made them, but we cast all the spells.  And of course the one that’s big enough to be your headband is for Karzog.”

“Of course!” Valentia giggled as she slipped hers on and passed the box to Valentia.  “They don’t
look
very impressive, but I can sure feel it tingling on my finger from all the power in it.” She added, eyeing the plain steel ring with it’s single diamond cut into a simple octahedron, like two four-sided pyramids joined base to base.

“They’re general-purpose focusing amplifiers, permanent and protected information storage of immense capacity, and excellent power batteries.  And they’re charged already.” Talia explained.  “The steel is the most durable alloy Kragorram’s come up with, they’re self-sizing and practically indestructible, and the diamond’s shape is a single complete natural crystal.  We’ve found that cutting diamonds to look nice and sparkly not only reduces their storage capacity by reducing their size, it also drastically reduces their utility as spelled items by interrupting their crystal properties.

“And believe me, once you get used to having a handy information storage item, you’ll never go without one again.  Povon got us started on that in our first training with Quewanak.  She stored all her notes in hers; notes on thousands of personnel on both sides of the conflict, notes on locations and their tactical and strategic properties, everything.  And it was all still there for us when we came out of the training.  It’s way easier than always casting Readings on yourself to refresh your memory.

“I use my engagement and wedding rings, myself, though after we tested yours this morning, I think I’ll get one of those too.”

“Thanks Mother!” the children chorused together, then giggled as they admired their rings with their magic senses.

“And thanks Povon and Kragorram!” Valentia laughed.

“You’re welcome.”
came their psionic reply.

“Excuse me.”
Karzog said as he Summoned his ring, and it disappeared from the box. 
“I couldn’t wait to try it on!  Mmm, it’s nice too!  Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Alilia chuckled, amused at his exuberance.

“Well, we’re off.” Reggie declared as he pushed away from the table.  And after a minute of hugs, kisses, good-byes, and love-yous, they went back to their task.

It was far more difficult to find the young Sylvan now, but with a careful combination of tracking, magic, and psionics, they were found, and steadily, despite the Stealth their god had endowed them with.

By suppertime they had over eight hundred unconscious captives laid out in the little valley behind Mark’s house.

The three siblings settled on the grass at the center of the valley to eat from their provisions and watch, while Karzog struck a proud pose beside them and woke their prisoners.

The Sylvan had been laid out with their feet pointing at the center of the valley and their heads up the slope.  Now they woke and sat up, but that was all they could do.  They could neither stand nor move their arms.  Arranged as they were, the valley became a natural amphitheater, and the captive audience had no choice but to face their captors.

A few began yelling, but Karzog over-rode them, his powerful voice augmented to an immense volume, speaking Blezogeth.

“You have been detained by The Governors of Hiliani.” the young dragon announced.  “I am Vice-Governor Karzog, and I will be your keeper and your overseer during our time together.

“Your continuous slaughter of one another ends now.  You’ve lived in a state of ignorance, and we will now enlighten you.”