The Woodward Academy, Year 8

Chapter 2: July

Breakfast was just wrapping up as David entered the mess hall at the ANFCC.  It was the only building large enough to house the portion of Scout Company 1 stationed at the base.  He walked over to stand next to his usual table, where Vivian and Giendia were eating.  He set down the box he was carrying on the table.

"What the heck are those... uh, sir?" Vivian asked, pointing to the new pins on David's chest.  There were three of them, arranged in an inverted triangle just over his left breast pocket.

The one in the upper left was a green five-pointed star with gold accents.

The one in the upper right was a bronze-colored, U-shaped shield with a sword and a wand crossed over each other on it, and a single green six-pointed star at the top.

The final one, at the bottom of the inverted triangle, bore a stylized goldenrod flower.  In front of the flower was an inverted wand, its point hidden behind a unicursal hexagram.  On the handle of the wand was one blood-red ring.

"Commendations, and don't make fun of them, Capadra.  You're getting two of them, too."

David raised his voice so that everyone could hear him.  "Can I have your attention please?"

The room quieted, and everyone turned to face David.

"New mission orders will be arriving tomorrow morning.  Before that happens, there are commendations to be issued for your actions in the field.

"First off, all of you will be receiving the Combat Shield."  David pointed to the one he was wearing, with the crossed wand and sword.  "This medal signifies that you are a combat soldier, who has served in active conflict with an enemy.  It may seem piddly, but keep in mind that for over a thousand years, no Callamandian soldier before you has earned one of these.

"Now, several of you will be receiving the Goldenrod Medal," David said, pointing to the one he was wearing.  "This medal is awarded for being injured in the line of duty.  For those who may be snickering at its name, goldenrod, also called woundwort, is commonly used in the healing arts, especially for combat-related injuries.  Since it is so common to see injured soldiers in the possession of goldenrod, it eventually made its way onto the medal issued to commemorate our misfortune.

"Two Verdant Stars have been awarded to Scout 1-East at this point," David said, motioning to his own.  "The other goes to Bandador Jack Salmoni, for charging heroically - if stupidly," David added with a grin, to the chuckles of the gathering, " - into enemy wand-fire to allow his troopmates to escape a potential trap.  He will also be receiving a Goldenrod Medal, because he may be heroic, but he hasn't yet figured out how to duck."

The others chuckled again.

"There are several awardings of the Gold Slash, which is a medal approved by our company commander in recognition of meritorious conduct on the field of battle.  The first of these... well, I'm making it the first, just to embarrass the shit out of her, goes to Capadra Vivian Columbo, for taking charge of her troop when her leader did something stupid and got hurt.  She bravely and competently took lead of the troop for nearly a week while her leader's arm healed."

Vivian blushed furiously as David handed her award to her.

"Other awards of the Gold Slash include," David started, and went on to list a number of other company members.

When he had finished, David said, "The Gold Slash is intended to be worn actually on the left breast pocket, instead of above it.  It is worn at a forty-five degree angle, like this," David said, borrowing Vivian's medal and holding it up to his own breast pocket to indicate the position it was to be worn.  "Should you ever receive a Silver Slash, it is worn in mirror fashion, forming the other side of a chevron.

"So, as you each leave the mess hall, make sure to stop by and get whatever commendations are due you.  I'll be sitting here at my usual table.

"That is all."

With that, David sat down and ordered his own meal.  Vivian looked at him, still blushing slightly, and said, "You didn't have to single me out, you know..."

"But it was so much fun!" David replied with a mischievous grin.  "Just think, if you walk four hundred miles next time, they might give you an even better medal!"

Vivian just looked at him, then looked over at Giendia and asked, "You think they'll take my medal away if I punch him in the nose?"

"They might," Giendia said with a smirk.

Vivian considered for a second, then said, "It might be worth it..."

"But think of all the paperwork," David pointed out.

"Hmm.  You've got a point there.  Guess I'll put up with you a while longer."

"I'm so relieved to hear that," David said, then blew her a kiss.  Vivian just shook her head and finished her breakfast.

"This is close enough," David said quietly.

"But the weres are over a mile away," Vivian objected.

"Do you really want to get closer?" David asked her with a grin.  Vivian blushed.  "This is plenty close enough for them to smell it, trust me.  We only want one company to notice the smell at a time.  That means positioning is important."

David pulled a vial out of his coat.  In it was a green-tinged liquid.

"Okay, Viv, do your thing."

Vivian nodded, then she cast a charm on a nearby dead tree.  Suddenly it took on the shape of a female werewolf.  Her demeanor was one of sexual arousal.

"Nice," David said in praise.  "Okay, now get downwind.  That way," he said, pointing, "at least a quarter mile, and then use Ain't Nobody Here, so they can't smell you."

"You got it," she said.  She was glad that "downwind" also happened to be away from the were camp.  After she had found a good overwatch location, she waved to David, who waved back.

Looking around, David pointed in a direction about forty-five degrees away from Vivian.  "You go that way.  Not too far; you need to be able to make a guaranteed shot to the head."

Giendia nodded, and then moved off through the trees until she had reached the spot David had ordered her to.  She waved her readiness.  David waved back, then he turned to his own task.

Facing the "female werewolf", David opened the vial of liquid.  He used his wand to levitate a small portion of the liquid out of the vial, and then blew on it, using his aeromandy to, first, cover the illusion in the scent, and second, to disperse the scent into the wind.

With that done, David put away the vial, and then turned himself invisible.  He would have crossed into Haven to hide his presence even further, but he had discovered that he had difficulty doing what he needed to do across the barrier.

Closing his eyes, David connected with Jailla, who was sitting in a tree just outside the nearest were encampment.  As he leaned against a tree, watching the weres, his mind was suddenly filled with a soft buzzing noise.  It grew louder and more static-like, until finally, something popped, and he heard only the sound of crickets.

Two sets of them.

David was confused, but only briefly.  He suddenly heard, close by, a voice say, "Fuck, smell that.  The wolf that finds her is gonna have some goddamned fun!"

Another voice said, "Yeah, and I'm gonna go looking!"

Jailla turned his head so that David could look at the situation going on.  He saw two were guards, the ones who had been talking.  One of them started to head off into the trees.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" a third voice growled menacingly.  Jailla turned his head, and David saw a bigger and higher-ranking were approaching.

"Shit, there ain't no one out here to guard against.  I'm gonna get me some pussy!"

"I am the commander of this unit," the bigger one snarled.  "If there is any mating to be done, it will be by me!"

"You're only the commander because your brother's an arkigo," the guard said.

The commander launched a large energy ball at the guard, hitting him in the chest and throwing him into a tree.  He fell to the ground, his body wriggling in pain and David could clearly hear his groans.

"You will have to stand guard by yourself," the commander growled.  "Do not leave your post."

"Yes, Vocator," the guard snapped.

With that, the commander left into the woods, heading straight for David.  David briefly became visible and signaled to the other two that they would soon have company.  He then returned to his invisible state and waited.

It took almost twenty minutes for the werewolf to arrive.  He growled in excited anticipation as he spotted the illusory female through the trees.

The werewolf said something that was unintelligible to David, which threw him.  Why would he speak another language to a female were, when he was speaking English to his guards?

Vivian just had the female were give the commander a "come hither" look.  He growled and pounced.

The first thing that happened was the were commander hit the solidity of the dead tree, and bounced off.  A confused grunt was followed by a low growl.

The next noise that was heard was the soft twang of Giendia's bowstring.  There was no time to react to that, however.  The arrow took a little less than a second to cover the distance, and the were had only enough time to turn his head to look.  The arrow pierced the very center of his forehead, ramming straight through his skull and protruding out the back.

David had to act quickly.  The one thing they could not allow was blood to spray anywhere, if they ever wanted to use this tactic again.  He didn't even have time to become visible.  He cast saikyosem, which surrounded the were's head with a bright glow, and brought all the blood droplets to himself.  He had practiced this for an entire day back at the comm center, in order to get his speed and strength up.  The blood droplets merged right in front of David's hand, forming a ball of crimson liquid.  In a flash, he vaporized all of it.

The body itself had also been disintegrated, thanks to the enchantment that Vivian had placed on Giendia's arrow.  With the body and the blood gone, there was no sign at all that the were commander had even been here.

David solidified himself and waved the other two in.  They arrived quickly.

"Now what?" Vivian asked.

"Now we have to hide our scent tracks.  That will be the toughest part."

"More scent remover potion?" she asked.

David shook his head.  "Too much of it and it begins to stand out.  You can use it to cover a small area, but we need to cover this entire section of forest."

"What do we use, then?" Giendia asked.

David knelt, then pulled out his wand.  He held it between two fingers so the crystal at its butt end was dangling downward.  He slowly chanted a spell, and then touched the ground with the crystal.  Suddenly, a plant sprung up.

In only a short while, Vivian covered her mouth and nose.  "Oh, god, what is that?"

Giendia, too, covered her face and backed away.

"Death blossom.  It smells like a rotting carcass, but the scent doesn't carry on the wind.  You can't even smell it from more than two hundred yards or so."

"But this is just an illusion.  Will it fool them?" Vivian asked.

"Should, unless they investigate it closely.  But there's nothing here to make them want to look all that close."

"Right.  Now what?" Vivian asked.

"Now we get out of here and move north, to try it again."

"How many do you think we can kill this way?" Giendia wondered.

"I don't know.  Depends on how quickly they learn from their mistakes.  If, at any point, they show up more than one at a time, we'll have to stop."

"You wouldn't want to take out both of them?" Vivian asked.

"Too hard to hide it, and we are way too exposed to risk it."

Vivian nodded, and so did Giendia.

"Now, let's get moving.  I figure we can be in our next position before nightfall."

 "So, guess you worked out that whole hearing thing, huh?" David asked Jailla quietly.  They were taking a walk around their current campsite, checking the area prior to settling in and starting to cook their meal.

"Yes.  It was quite a challenge, but I finally managed to make it happen."

"Does the difficulty you had mean that we aren't really bonded as closely as we should be?" David worried.

"No.  It was going to be difficult, no matter how close we were.  Had we not been fully bonded, it would have been impossible.  I suppose you and I could be more closely bonded, but I honestly don't see how."

David nodded.  "Are there any other skills you can share with me?"

"Not that I'm aware of.  But I will ask some other familiars who are also birds, when I get the chance."

"Okay.  Say, something weird happened while we were connected, though."

"Oh?" Jailla asked.

"Yeah.  When I was listening to the were commander talk to the guards you were watching, I heard him speak English.  Later on, when he was talking to the illusion, he was speaking... er..."

"Vrudenese," Jailla offered helpfully.

"Uh... if you say so.  I couldn't understand it, anyway.  Why do you think he was talking to his guards in English?"

"He wasn't."

"What do you mean?  I heard him clearly."

"I was translating for you."

"You speak Vrudenese?"

"I'm magical.  I understand all languages.  I would have to, just in case I ended up as someone else's familiar, who spoke some other language.  All familiars are omnilingual; we can understand every spoken language, and most written ones."

"So... even, like, Earth languages?"

"Yes."

"Shit, that's cool.  Not that I've needed it, but I wish you'd have told me that before."

"I would have, if you'd have needed it."

"Right.  So... if it was you translating, how come I heard them in their own voices?  Or were those their own voices?"

"They were.  I don't translate in the way an Earth interpreter might.  I can magically transform the speech they are uttering into speech you will recognize.  It's a form of illusion; you even see their lips moving to match the English words you hear them say."

"Oh, I getcha.  Is there any way for me to tell when you're doing it?"

"Not if I don't tell you myself," Jailla said.

David nodded.  "Glad you're on my side."

Jailla just bobbed his head.

"Don't take this wrong, David, but right now is when I'm most glad that you and I became intimate."

"Why's that?" David asked.

"Because it would just be fucking embarrassing to have to lie here naked while you pull needles out of my ass if we weren't!"

David chuckled, and used his wand to extract another needle.  It was a six-inch long spike with a barb at the end.  He had anesthetized Vivian before he started.  She had tripped and fallen into a porcupine bush.  The sheer number of spikes put most cacti to shame.  They had been forced to erect the tent on the spot, so that David could render first aid.  Giendia was standing watch outside.

"Well, anything to make you more comfortable," David said with a grin.

As he continued to work, carefully removing the needles from her butt, he asked her, "Does it bother you, having to take orders from someone you're sleeping with?"

"I'd rather you were giving me orders than the other way around, trust me."

"I didn't think you were a submissive," David said mischievously.

"I'm not!" Vivian said, almost choking.  "But I do want to live through this damned thing, and you're a far better soldier than I am."

"Thanks.  But, seriously, does it bug you, when I get kind of short with you?"

"No.  I know you're under a lot of stress, and besides, I don't always make your life the easiest, either."

"You haven't been a problem yet," David told her.

"Thanks.  Do you have a problem with our relationship?"

David snorted.  "If sleeping with a subordinate was a problem for me, I'd have had to have Giendia transferred the day she was assigned to me."

Vivian started to chuckle, then stopped.  "Wait, what?  Have you slept with Giendia?"

"Long time ago," David said.

"With a centaur?  Isn't that... gross?"

"I suppose some might think so.  Obviously, I have a different opinion."

"Hmm.  Does explain some of her behavior toward you..."

David chuckled.  "No it doesn't.  She always blushes, around everybody."

"Oh!" Vivian said, then laughed.

David finally pulled out the last needle, and then rubbed his hand gently across Vivian's ass, chanting a healing and soothing charm.  He leaned down over her.

"That's the last of them."

"Thank you," Vivian said with a sigh of relief.

"Now," David said, his hand still caressing her butt cheek, "the next time you feel the need for something to poke you in the ass, just let me know."

Vivian blushed, and then turned over.  "You think Giendia would be mad if I asked for it right now?"

David leaned down further.  "If we're quick about it, she won't know."

With that, his tongue slid wetly into Vivian's mouth.

Their speed didn't reduce their enjoyment of the act one bit.

 As the arrow embedded itself deep into the back of the were's head, David chanted saikyosem, and then vaporized the blood, just as he had done four times before already, to three other were companies, plus one battalion commander.

As the body of the were dematerialized in front of him, David faded to solid form.  Just as he started to wave the others in to his position, he heard a screeching sound high above him.

Looking up, David couldn't see anything, but the screeching was growing louder, and coming toward them at a high rate of speed.

Finally, David discerned a small dot in the sky, but he had no time to focus on what it was.  He jumped out of the way as the screeching entity plummeted almost on top of him.  When he rolled back to his feet, now facing the spot where he had been, he saw a black bird with a bright yellow hawk's bill and white-tipped tail and wing feathers, sitting sedately on a tree branch as if he hadn't moved in hours.

"What the fuck is that thing?" David demanded of no one in particular.

"It's a falconswift," Giendia said, her voice showing her awe.  "They're very rare.  They're the fastest bird ever discovered."

"How fast?" David asked, curiosity overtaking his discomfort.

"Three hundred miles per hour," Giendia said.  "In level flight.  Unless they're in a hurry."

"Shit," David said.

"This one seems to have something stuck to its foot," Vivian pointed out.

David looked closer, and, sure enough, there was something attached to the bird's leg.

"How, uh... friendly are these guys?" David asked Giendia.

"I don't know."

"Hmph," David said.  He approached the bird slowly.  It eyed him, but made no moves.

Jailla picked that moment to settle onto David's shoulder.

"You might as well just walk over to him.  The message he's carrying is for you," Jailla told him.

"And you know that because..."

"Because he told me, of course."

"Ah.  Well, okay, then.  Wait a minute... how would he know where to find us to deliver a message?"

Jailla said, "The falconswift has a natural ability that is much like your cynosure.  If they are told who they need to find, they can automatically find them."

"Cool.  I hope they have a bunch of these.  It'll simplify communications an awful lot."

David walked over to the bird and stroked its head for a moment before working to detach the small capsule on its leg.

"Giendia, you have any idea what to give him to eat?  I figure he's probably-"

David's sentence was cut off as the bird took to the air, rising so quickly that it was a mere dot before David even had a chance to look upward.

"Guess he's not hungry," Vivian said.

"Hmph," David replied.  With that, he opened the capsule, which sparkled, and then a message popped out, unfurling itself into a full sheet of parchment.

"What does it say?" Giendia asked curiously.

David read through the message, frowning.

"What is it?" Vivian asked.

"The weres are on the move in the west again.  They are threatening the city of Bellamy."

"Oh, no.  That's thousands of people..."

"The evacuation has been ongoing for several days.  However, some people are refusing to leave.  We've been ordered in to... 'convince' them to get out of town.  By force, if necessary."

"How are we supposed to get there?  We're a damned long way from Bellamy..."

"We'll be picked up at the meadow just south of here in two hours.  Come on, it's an hour to get there, and that's if nothing goes wrong."

With that, the three started moving.

"What about covering our scent?" Giendia asked.

"Oh, right," David said.  He returned to their primary spot and created another death blossom illusion.  With that done, he quickly went back to the others, and then led them south.

Troop 12 spent two days working down the list of people who had been reluctant to leave their homes.  After an explicit description from David of what a werewolf was going to do to them, almost everyone willingly packed up and left.  The other two on his list had required physical measures, and they were now in the custody of army security, heading southwest under guard.

There was one last address on his list, however, and he'd been avoiding it since he arrived.  Vivian had noticed they'd detoured around this address twice, but she hadn't said anything, not wanting to trouble David with something that was obviously bothering him.

Finally, however, there was only the one address left.  They walked up the carriageway and stopped before the walk up to the house.

"Giendia, you stay out here.  Keep your eyes peeled for anything that might be a problem.  Jailla, give her a hand...er, a wing."

Jailla chirped and flew off to a nearby tree.  Giendia took up a guard position near the road.

Turning to Vivian, David took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

"Well, come on, I guess."

"What's bothering you about this house?" Vivian finally asked.

"You'll see."

David stepped up onto the porch of the house, then pounded loudly, so that there could be no doubt about whether they'd been heard or not.

In a few seconds, the door opened.  The man's eyes went slightly wide in recognition, and then he merely waved the two soldiers in.  They walked down the hallway and turned left to enter the living room, where they came to a stop.

David stared across the room at Denise Hasterscant.  She looked at him and took a ragged breath.  Slowly, she moved across the room toward him until she was only a foot or two away.  Her eyes had not left his.  She was barely blinking.  Her face was a blank mask.

Suddenly, she lunged, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and plastering her lips to his.  David put his hands on her hips as she thrust her tongue deep into his mouth.  For a long moment, the two communed, heedless of the others in the room.

When the pair finally separated, Vivian said, "Yeah, I can see why this place would bother you..."

Denise blushed, and finally let David go.

David coughed in embarrassment, then said, "That was definitely not the greeting I was expecting."

Denise's blush deepened.

Turning his head, David saw who else was in the room.

"Anne," he said in surprise.  "You shouldn't be here."  He walked over to her, and she immediately wrapped her arms around him, as well.  Her kiss was somewhat less passionate than Denise's, but just as heartfelt.

When they broke apart, Anne said, "I know I shouldn't.  I've been trying to convince these two dimwits that they need to get the hell out of here while they can."

"Well, then backup has arrived," David said.  He turned to Roy.  "Under royal decree, you are ordered to evacuate Bellamy immediately."

"And go where?" Roy asked.  "We have no money to go to a hotel, or worse yet, find a new place to live."

"I told you that you could stay with me," Anne objected.

"Anne, you live in a one-bedroom apartment.  There is no room for us," Denise told her.

"You two are really going to risk torture and death over money?" David asked incredulously.

"Easy to say when you have plenty of it," Roy shot back.  "No one's asking you to leave behind your entire world!"

"Roy, let me make this simple for you.  Do you want to watch your wife be beaten, raped, and killed, right before your eyes, without being able to do a goddamned thing about it?"

"Of course not!"

"Then what the fuck are you still doing here?  That is exactly what is going to happen if the weres catch you.  They have done it before.  I have watched them do it to people, because I didn't have the ability to stop them.  They will come, and you will die... but not before seeing things that will haunt you until the day you discorporate.

"In any case, this isn't a discussion anymore.  You can leave on your own, or we can force you.  It's that simple."

"And what are we supposed to do?  Live on the street?  Forage around in the forest for berries?" Roy demanded.

"Well, at least temporarily, you could have accepted your daughter's offer of shelter, which would have at least gotten you out of the danger zone, so you could make further plans.

"Or, you could have talked to Gwen, who has more room than Anne in her house.

"Or, since I have apparently been forgiven... or your wife has the weirdest libido in history, you could have come to stay with me.  I'm hardly hurting for space."

Denise said softly, "We assumed that we would not be welcome, after what happened."

"You banished me, not the other way around.  Besides, I wouldn't want to try to explain to Anne, or worse, Gwen, why I refused you shelter.  Now, get your things together.  We're leaving."

"Just like that?" Denise asked.

"We don't have time for anything else.  Estimates are that the Vrudenans will be here tomorrow.  Get moving."

After Roy and Denise left the room, Anne came over to him.  "How come you're more worried about Gwen's reaction than mine?"

"You would just hate me for all time.  Gwen would try to hurt me," David said with a grin.

Anne chuckled, then wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again.  Once they'd parted, she said, "God, I've missed you."

"Missed you, too.  Seeing anybody these days?"

Anne snorted.  "You know better.  You?"

"You know how my love life goes."

"Still haven't met that special someone, huh?"

"Three times so far.  It never seems to work out."

Anne frowned, but chose not to continue that conversation further.  Instead, she went to help her mother pack.

"I gather there was a problem at some point?" Vivian asked.

"Denise and I got into an argument when their daughter Ellie announced she was moving to Earth, and Denise found out I had known about it for a while.  She told me I was no longer welcome here."

"Apparently she changed her mind," Vivian said.

David snorted.  "Maybe she's horny," he mumbled.

"That would make two of us," Vivian said with a grin.

 "Master!" Olissa shouted upon seeing him.  She ran to him and threw her arms around him, and they kissed for a long moment.

"Hello, Little One," David said when they separated.  "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Master.  Much happier now that you're here."

"Any problems here in the house?"

"Nothing more troubling than boredom."

"Good.  To ease the boredom, I bring you more housemates."

Olissa's eyes opened in surprise.  "Mr. and Mrs. Hasterscant!  Welcome to Pendergrast Manor."

"Hi, Olissa," Denise said.

"Hey, Olissa," Anne said.

"Anne, nice to see you again.  Will you be staying, too?"

"No, I have to get back down to Cormatsen.  I have to get back to my job.  David," she said, turning to him.  "Thank you.  I know I don't have to worry about them here."

"You should stay for dinner," David said.

"I'd like to, but I should really get home."

"No," David said seriously, looking her in the eye.  "You should really stay for dinner."

Anne understood the tone of David's voice.  "Okay."

"So, everybody make yourselves comfortable.  Olissa, get one of the rooms upstairs ready for Roy and Denise.  I'm gonna shower and get out of this monkey suit.  Oh, and call Gwen and let her know her parents are here.  I'm sure she'll want to see them."

"Yes, Master," Olissa said with a nod.

"So, what's going on?" Anne asked.  Dinner was finished and they had all retired to the second floor lounge, which David had designated as the primary relaxation spot for himself and his VIP guests.  The first floor would be more for those who were staying in the basement of the house.

"Well, I have some bad news for all of you," David said.

"What's the matter?" Roy asked.

David took a deep breath, then let it out.  "I can't really think of a good way, or even a gentle way, to say this.  Your son, Nick, is dead."

Anne and Gwen gasped.  Roy looked stunned, and Denise let out a sob.

"Do you know what happened to him?" Roy finally asked.  "I mean, do you know how he was killed?"

"I'm not sure you want to know what I know," David said after a long pause.

"Now who's keeping secrets?" Denise demanded.

"If you insist on knowing, I will tell you.  I just don't think it's going to make you feel any better.  In fact, I think it may make you feel a whole lot worse."

"Well, hell, David... I don't know what the rest think, but you know I'm not going to leave that comment alone," Gwen said.  "What the hell happened to Nick?"

David looked around.  The others nodded in agreement with her sentiment.  David took another deep breath.

"Okay, but don't say that I didn't warn you.  Nick was killed during a werewolf raid on a small village south of Erle."

"So the weres killed him?" Denise asked.

"No."

"He was killed trying to rescue someone?" Roy suggested.

"No."

"What, then?" Denise demanded.

"I killed him," David said, staring her straight in the eye.

"WHAT?" she screamed.  "Why the fuck would you kill Nick?  He was your friend!"

"I didn't know who he was at the time," David said.

"It was an accident, then?" Gwen offered.

"No."

"You're not making any sense, David," Anne told him.

"At some point before I saw him, Nick had been turned.  He was a werewolf."

"Oh my god," Denise sobbed.

"Surely you don't just slaughter every werewolf you come across," Roy snapped.  "Didn't you give him a chance to tell you who he was?"

David took a deep breath, and then said, "He was a bit too busy trying to kill me to tell me who he was."

"Excuse me?" Roy demanded.

"Nick was part of the raid on the village.  He was not a victim of the weres; he was working with them.  I was forced to kill him because he attacked me."

"I don't believe you," Roy said.

"Why would I make it up?" David asked reasonably.

"To justify the fact that you slaughtered an innocent man!"

"Roy, if I felt the need to 'justify' my actions to you, I would simply not have told you about the incident at all.  I was under no obligation to give you this information, except that we are friends, and I felt you should know what happened to your son.

"I wasn't alone when the attack took place.  If you want, I'll let you talk to my troopmates.  I don't have any idea how many people Nick might have hurt in that village, but the werewolves, as a whole, killed over a hundred people.  When we showed up, they attacked us immediately.  I didn't even know it was Nick until after he died."

"If he was in werewolf form, how did you figure out who he was?" Anne wondered.

"When a turned human dies, they will revert back to their human form.  Something about it being their natural state or whatever.  In any case, as we were checking the bodies to see if anyone was still living, he de-morphed back into himself."

"And what do you do when you find one who's still living?" Roy demanded, "Kill them?"

"Honestly?  That depends on exactly what it was they were doing before we took them down.  But the truth is, I run a three-person unit.  We do not have the means to take prisoners.  So if a larger unit isn't nearby... yes, we do have a tendency to kill those who live through the first attack.  Leaving them alive and free is a danger to us, to other soldiers, and to the citizens of Callamandia, thus a violation of my oath of service.  Before you ask, no, Nick did not live through the initial attack."

"And if he had?" Denise asked.

"I really don't know," David told her bluntly.  "Are there any other questions?"

The room was silent for a long moment.

David nodded, then excused himself to go out to the backyard.  He had known the discussion would be unpleasant.  He wondered if Roy and Denise would even stay at the house now.  He couldn't worry too much about that, though.  It had been necessary for him to get this particular piece of darkness off his back.

After a while, there was a presence at his side.

"I thought I told you never to come out here after dark," David said, his voice teasing, rather than harsh.

Gwen snorted.  "I'm standing next to one of the most dangerous people in the world, who I presume would come to my defense if trouble appeared.  I think I'm probably safer here than inside."

David smirked.  "Maybe so."

"I just wanted you to know that I don't blame you for what you did.  You have a job to do, and you did it.  I can't believe that Nick would have turned traitor like that, though."

"We don't know what he went through after he was turned, Gwen.  I don't know how long he'd been a werewolf.  It could have been weeks.  The people in Erle might have driven him out, even.  We'll never know."

"Yeah, I guess not."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this when it happened last month.  When I got back from that mission, I was too wrapped up in my own problems to worry about you and Nick."

"That's okay.  I'm not sure I'd have wanted to be the one to have to tell Mom and Dad, anyway."

"Are they packing up to leave now?" David asked.

"Dad is considering it.  He just can't believe your version of events.  He refuses to accept that his son turned traitor."

"And your mom?"

"She believes you.  She's in shock, and upset, but she believes you.  Dad's trying to talk her into leaving."

"Where would they go?"

"They could stay with us for a couple weeks, until they found a place to stay."

David nodded.  "If they, or you, need financial help, I assume you'll not be too proud to ask."

"How many times am I supposed to allow you to bail me out in my lifetime?" Gwen asked.

"As many times as you need me to," David said seriously.  "You know all the shit that's gone down with Woodward and Dailey and everything... with Joe dying... with Lise gone...  You and Jess are two of my closest friends... and at this point, nearly some of my only friends."

"I don't believe that for a second.  Maybe you just don't understand how many people really care about you."

"Maybe not," David admitted.  "But it sure doesn't feel like a large number at the moment.  In any case, you have been my friend for as long as I've been a wizard.  You stood by me through the whole demighost uproar.  I will always owe you for that, so if you need the one thing I've got a practically endless supply of, then I'm more than happy to give it to you."

"Thanks, David," she said, hugging him.  She gave him a soft kiss, as well.  "Come on, you've been out here long enough."

"I was trying to let things calm down."

"They're probably as calm as they're going to get.  Besides, Anne is leaving, and she wanted to say good-bye."

"She knew where to find me," David objected lightly.

"True, but she was afraid of what mood you might be in.  I, on the other hand, didn't care."

David chuckled at that.  "Yeah, you've always been just a bit less leery of me and my moods."

"What's to be afraid of?  I've already seen you at your nastiest."

David turned and looked at her very seriously.

"No, you haven't.  And you should hope you never do."

 As David was showering the next morning, his thoughts were on his plans for the day, which involved Zyla.  Having spent a day with Olissa and those living in his house, he now needed to meet his commitment to Joe, and check on his "other" family.

When the bathroom door opened, David took little notice of it.  Olissa often came into the bathroom when he was showering, either to join him, or just to check and make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be.  He just went on with his shower as usual.

His back was turned when the shower door opened, and he didn't turn around immediately, since he was soaping up his chest.  When he did turn to let the water wash him off, and to say hello to his visitor, he found that it was not Olissa.

"Uh... hi," David said.

"You don't sound happy to see me," Denise said with a frown.

"I'm a bit too stunned yet to be happy to see you."

"Why?  It's not like you haven't seen me naked many times before."

"Yes, well... after yesterday, I wasn't exactly expecting intimacy."

Denise frowned and looked away.  She said, "It was a shock, hearing you talk about it like it was an everyday occurrence."

"Unfortunately, for me, it is," David said.

Denise looked back to him.  "What do you do for the military?  I mean, what's your job?"

"I'm assigned to Scout Company 1.  We are an intelligence-gathering and sabotage unit.  I lead a three-person troop, and I am also the administrative officer for the eastern sub-company unit."

"So you try to find out things about the enemy?"

"Yes.  Where they are, what they're doing, what their plans are, that kind of thing."

"So why were you fighting werewolves?  Is that part of your job?"

"Saving Callamandian lives is part of our job, when we can do so with a good probability of success."

"You sound like a textbook."

"I'm reciting from my orders," David admitted.

"Oh.  Do you like being in the army?"

"No."

"So why don't you quit?"

"Because I like being in jail a whole lot less.  You don't walk out when the king tells you to do a job, Denise."

She frowned again.  "You seem more aggressive than you used to be."

"Killing people will do that to you," he told her.

"I suppose so," she conceded.  "I don't like what it's doing to you."

"Neither do I.  I simply haven't been able to prevent it."

"Oh."

"Can I ask you a question?" David queried.

"Of course."

"Why did you forgive me for not telling you about Ellie?"

Denise got teary-eyed.  "I regretted what I said to you before the day was even over, David.  I knew you were right; you'd made a promise, and I had no right at all to expect you to break it on my account."

"But you never contacted me."

"I couldn't bear it.  I had been such a bitch, and I figured you would tell me to fuck off.  I guess it was easier to deal with my having pushed you away stupidly, than it would have been if you had slammed the door in my face."

David nodded.  "I guess I can understand that.  I wish you'd tried, though.  I could have used your friendship over the last couple years.  Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure," she replied.

"Given how upset Roy seems to be with me, how is he going to feel about you being naked in the shower with me?"

Denise's frown got deeper.  "He isn't likely to notice."

"Oh?  Why not?"

"Because he's not here anymore."

"Where did he go?"

"He went to stay with Gwen and Jess.  He refuses to believe you about Nick, and he is adamant that he won't stay with, 'my son's murderer,' as he puts it."

"Why didn't you go with him?" David asked.

"Because I think he's being a complete ass right now, and I also feel a lot safer here."

"Not that I want to talk you out of it, but why is it so easy for you to forgive me for Nick?  If, that is, you're not about to try to knife me in the back, or morph me..."

Denise smirked briefly before her frown returned.  "What Roy is completely ignoring, or just doesn't want to see, is that we hadn't spoken to Nick in over a year.  Roy's brother, the one who owns the shop where Nick was working, hadn't even seen him in more than six months.  I think he had probably been turned long before you ran into him.

"And I hate to admit it, even to myself, but I have my doubts about whether his turning was against his will."

"You think he asked to be turned?" David asked in shock.

"I think he might have.  He might have seen it as an adventure, or a way to gain some more powers.  Nick was never happy with the amount of magic he'd managed to master.  He always wanted more."

"So you think maybe he saw the war as a way to increase his power level."

"It could be.  I hate having to talk about him like this.  I loved him; he was my baby boy.  But I also care about you, and that means that I had to really think about whether what you were telling me made sense, whether it could be the truth.

"And I simply have to admit that I could believe that Nick wanted to be a werewolf.  In his hybrid state, he might not have even recognized you, right?"

"It's possible," David confirmed.  "They get pretty feral when they're both in hybrid state, and worked up emotionally.  Those weres were having a lot of fun for themselves."

"So he probably just saw you as another human when he attacked.  How quickly did he die?" she asked.

"It only took one spell," David said.  "It wasn't a prolonged battle for any of them that day."

Denise nodded.  "At least he didn't suffer," she said.

David didn't respond to that.  Had I realized he was a traitor, he might have, he admitted to himself.  He wasn't about to tell Denise that, however.

After a few moments of silence, Denise looked him in the eyes.  "So.  You and I haven't spoken for over two years now.  Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had sex?"

"I would hope not two years..." David replied.

"No, not quite that long... but much too long for my sanity.  So, to make up for what you've done to my son, you are going to fuck me until I can't walk straight."

"Um..."

"What?" she demanded.

"Seems like a strange time for sex, what with you just finding out about your son's death... and at the hands of the person you're wanting to have sex with..."

Denise sighed.  "You're right, I'm very stressed about the whole thing: losing the house, Nick's death, your admission.  But the truth is, the best way for me to relieve stress is to not think about all that shit for a little while, and the only way I know to do that is for you to make my eyes cross with your dick."

David raised an eyebrow, and smiled slightly.  "As you wish..." he said, backing her up to the tile wall and kissing her briefly.

Crouching, David slid his hands between Denise's knees.  She spread her legs apart for him, and he pushed his hands upward, so that he was caressing the backs of her thighs with his palms.  Denise moaned softly at the feel of his hands.

Swiftly, David stood, his hands sliding upward past her hips, spreading her legs until they were resting on his shoulders.  The wall supported her back, keeping her from falling.

"Oh!" Denise cried out.

Denise's position put her pussy right in front of David's mouth, and he took full advantage.  His tongue pressed tight against her hole until it wormed its way inside.  As he wiggled his tongue back and forth, she moaned and mewed.

David reached around with his hand and began to stroke Denise's clit.  Her moans grew louder, and her hips began to shudder, pressing her pussy against his tongue.  He continued to lick her pussy and strum her clit, letting her passion build.  Finally, when he sensed she was right on the edge, he slipped his mouth up onto her clit, flicking it with the tip of his tongue.

Denise was immediately crying out in pleasure, her hips shuddering against David's face.  He continued to assault her clit throughout her orgasm, until finally she started to come down.  He pulled back and looked up at her.

Denise looked down at David, a wanton smile on her face.  "That's a good start," she encouraged him.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, and then he moved his arms, letting her slip down off his shoulders but making sure she she didn't fall.

When she was standing on her feet again, David kissed her, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth and pushing her back against the tile.  His hands groped her tits, and she moaned into his mouth.  They stayed that way for a long moment, until David was sure that she could handle more.

Stepping back slightly, David gripped Denise at the waist and turned her to face the wall.  She knew what he wanted, and immediately put her hands on the tile, pushing her hips backward, thrusting her pussy out invitingly.

David wasted no time, but quickly had the head of his dick at her entrance.  He  grabbed her hips firmly, and then thrust as hard as he could into her pussy.

Denise screamed in pleasure as David filled her up in one swift thrust.  He gave her no time to get used to his presence, but instead started to ram hard into her over and over.  She was quickly crying out in bliss, once again rising toward climax.

David thrust into her harder and faster, pushing himself closer to his own orgasm.  She got there before he did, but not by much.  As soon as Denise's pussy started to squeeze down on his cock at the start of her climax, David slammed his hips against her ass and loosed his load deep inside of her.

The two panted heavily for long moments, settling from their ecstasy.  When she had the strength, Denise stood up straight, letting David's cock slip from inside her, and she turned around to face him.

David moved in, pushing her against the wall and kissing her again.  She enjoyed that for a long moment, then broke their kiss.

"We're not done, are we," she said.  It was not a question.

"Not even close.  But you have to get me hard again."

"Hmmm," she said, a twinkle in her eyes.  She kissed him briefly before she started to sink to her knees.

 Denise wasted no time, but slipped her lips around the head of David's cock just as soon as it was in reach.  She pushed forward, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, and then began to bob vigorously on him.

David closed his eyes and rested his hands on Denise's head, just enjoying the feel of her lips and tongue working him over.  He was hard again fairly quickly, but Denise didn't stop her blowjob for quite some time.

Finally, David urged her to stand, and she reluctantly let him slip from between her lips.  She rose, and then wrapped her arms around his neck again.

"I missed sucking on your dick," she said with a pout.

"We'll have to see that you get more opportunities in the future," David said with a smirk.  He slid his hands across her back and down onto her ass, then gripped her cheeks.  She moaned softly at the feel of that, and then David pulled her off the floor again.  She knew what he was doing, and wrapped her legs around his waist.

David positioned himself, then lowered Denise slowly in his grip, letting his dick penetrate her smoothly until he was halfway inside of her.  He then let her drop the rest of the way onto his cock.

"Oh, shit!" Denise cried in surprised pleasure.

David gripped her ass again, to hold her in place, and then started to thrust, plunging his cock as deep into her as he could.  Denise was quickly moaning in pleasure, her hips rolling in rhythm with his thrusts.

David leaned his head forward and began to gently bite Denise's neck.  Her arousal revved up at that, and her body began to tingle, warning of the arrival of her next climax.  When it arrived, she cried out loudly, her body shuddering and losing its tempo.  David continued to thrust into her until her orgasm peaked, and then he slowed to a stop, keeping himself buried inside her while her ecstasy passed.

Once Denise had calmed down, he set her back on the floor and then had her turn around again.

"We've already done this position," she objected lightly.

David just grunted as he pulled her hips backward, against his hips, so that his dick rested in the crack of her butt.  She leaned forward, putting her hands on the wall as she had before.

David rocked his hips, rubbing his dick back and forth against her ass, while he uttered two spells under his breath.  The first was the usual lubrication charm.  The second was a numbing hex.  He didn't want her to know what was coming, and this would prevent her from feeling anything until he penetrated her.

Having completed his preparations, he pulled his hips back, letting his dick slide down along her ass.  Reaching down, he pulled her ass cheeks apart, so that he had a perfect view of both her pussy and her asshole.  He placed the head of his dick gently against her asshole and paused for just a moment.

"Come on, don't tease me!" Denise whined.  "I still need a good fucking!"

"Okay, you asked for it," David said quietly.  With that, he slammed his dick into her ass to the hilt in one rapid thrust.

Denise screamed at the top of her lungs, mostly in surprise.  The lubrication charm prevented her from feeling much pain, but the discomfort of having her ass filled so suddenly was a rude awakening.

"David, what the fuck!  I've never had anal sex!"

"You said you wanted me to fuck you until you couldn't walk straight.  This will guarantee it.  Consider this payback for slapping me a couple years ago."

Before Denise could respond to that, David pulled out halfway, and then thrust back into her.  Denise cried out again, her mind lost in the mix of pleasure and discomfort that his dick was causing.

David set up a rhythm after that, moving not too fast, but always staying in motion.  As he continued to fuck her ass, he pushed her forward until her entire body was pressed against the tile.  His chest was sliding across her back as he thrust up into her ass over and over.

"Oh... oh, god... oh, fuck," Denise cried out.

"Want me to stop?" David taunted.

"You do, and I'll banish you from my house again!" she replied.  "Fuck me, goddammit!"

David thrust even faster.  He could feel his own heat rising again, and he wanted to bring her off one more time.  He reached around to her front and started to pinch her nipples.

Denise screamed in pleasure, and her hips started to tremble, her orgasm nearing.  David thrust as hard as he could, bringing her right to the very edge of rapture, and then held her there for a very long moment.

"Make me come, you bastard!" Denise growled.  "God-fucking-shit-dammit, make me come!"

David grinned, and then slammed his dick as hard as he could up into her.  She actually lifted up on tiptoe from the strength of his thrust.  Her climax hit her at that instant, and she barely felt him spewing his load deep into her ass.  The two shuddered together for a long moment before either of them was coherent.

As David descended from his peak, he slowly withdrew his cock from within her.  He held onto her, making sure she could stand up while she was still lost to the pleasure of her orgasm.

Once Denise was able to catch her breath, she turned around, wrapped her arms around David's neck, and kissed him passionately.

"God that was good," she said breathlessly.

"Glad you liked it," David said.

"You could have warned a girl, though, you know," she said.

"You might have said no.  I didn't want you to have that option," David admitted.  "I wanted your ass."

"Hmm.  Well, I'll forgive you, since you did such a good job.  And you're welcome to it at any point in the future that you'd like it.  Now, what say we actually get clean?  I know I need an actual shower after all that."

 "Are you ready to do this?" David asked Zyla.  They were sitting in his glidetruck outside the local market.

"If I say no, will you take me back home?" she asked with a smile.

"Nope," he replied.  "I would just give you another moment to get yourself ready."  Turning to her, he asked, "What is it that bothers you so much about being here?  You've been to the market thousands of times in your life.  Nothing here has changed."

"I think that's one of the things that bothers me, David.  Nothing here has changed, but my world is completely destroyed."

"No, it's not.  It has certainly been upended and seriously damaged, but your world isn't destroyed unless you refuse to live your life."

"What life?  I've told you before, all I ever wanted to be was a housewife."

"And you still are one.  Granted, your husband is... absent... at the moment, but you still have a household to maintain.  You still have a daughter to raise.  She still needs a functioning mother."

"She needs a father, as well, but she doesn't have that, either, now," Zyla said sourly.

"When the time is right, sometime down the road, I imagine you will fix that problem.  For right now, however, the problem you need to focus on is staring you in the mirror every morning."

"I understand what you're saying, David, and I appreciate it... I just don't know how to deal with it."

"What is it, specifically, that scares you so much about going in there?"

"Who we're going to meet."

"What do you mean?"

"It's almost guaranteed that we will run into one of the other mothers in there, doing her weekly shopping."

"Okay... I thought those people were your friends."

"They are.  And because they are, they're going to ask me the one thing I can't bear to be asked."

"Which is..."

"How I'm doing!  You know what happens every time you ask me!  It just brings everything back, like a knife twisting in my gut."

"I didn't realize I was hurting you that much," David said quietly.  "I'm sorry."

"The difference is that you'll stick around for the aftermath.  They won't be able to. And they might have their children with them, and they won't understand, and..."

David could see that Zyla was near tears.  He reached over and put his hand on her arm, squeezing lightly in support.

"I'll do my best to keep the demons at bay," David said, "but you need to take this step.  If you don't do it now, it's going to start getting harder in the future.  You'll get used to not going anywhere, being protected from unpleasantness by the comfortable surroundings of your home.  You will start to think it's normal that you don't ever walk out your front door.  Oh, it won't happen quickly, but unless you stop it now, it's going to be easier and easier to go down that path.  I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" she asked.

"I made someone a promise," David said quietly.

Zyla frowned tearily, and took a deep breath.  "Okay.  If you'll stick close, I'll try."

The two exited the truck, then moved into the market.  David floated the grocery basket behind them as they walked.

Inevitably, someone who knew Zyla spotted them, and immediately came over.

"Zyla!" the woman said.  "Oh, dear, I'm so sorry!  How are you-" she started to say, but David raised his hand to intervene.

"Please don't," he said calmly.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked, somewhat crossly.

"Please don't ask the question you were about to ask.  Are you married?"

"Yes, for ten years now.  What has that to do-"

"Can you imagine for me how you would feel if you had just had your husband ripped out of your life in an obscene and cruel twist of fate, with no real warning or preparation?  Why would you need to ask that question?"

The woman's face went slack for a moment, then she nodded in understanding.  Turning to Zyla, she asked, "Is there anything Trebby or I can do for you?"

Zyla smiled wanly, and shook her head.  "No, thank you, Amdia.  I'm muddling through, with David's occasional help," she said, motioning to David.

"Oh, so this is David," Amdia said.  "A pleasure to meet you, sir," she said, extending her hand.

David shook her hand, but raised an eyebrow.  "Sir?  I'm probably a couple years younger than you are."

"Thank you for the compliment," she said with a grin.  "I'm quite sure it's more than 'a couple'.  But I know what you're doing for the country right now.  Everyone in your position deserves to be addressed with some respect."

David nodded his head in acceptance of the sentiment.

"Well, I don't want to hold you two up.  Do give us a buzz on the mirror if you need anything at all, won't you?"

"Certainly.  Thank you again."

"Not at all.  And nice to meet you, David."

"Yes, ma'am.  You, too."

As Amdia made her way to another aisle, Zyla turned to David.  "Thank you for that.  Had it not been Amdia, that could have been unpleasant for you.  Some of the ladies would not have liked you butting in like that."

David shrugged.  "I think I can handle a few evil glares and condescending frowns."

Zyla smiled, and then they turned to continue with their shopping.

The two were just finishing up the task of putting away the groceries when Grace returned from her play date.   She gave her mother a hug, but then immediately ran to David and strangled him, per usual.

"Did you have fun, Gracie?" David asked.

"Uh-uh.  Worried," she said.

"I know.  But see?  I brought Mommy back."

"Uh-huh."

"What do you say, Grace?" Zyla asked.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You're welcome, Gracie.  Now, why don't you go wash your hands for dinner?  We're having pizza."

"Okay!" she enthused, and ran down the hall toward the bathroom.

David turned to Zyla.  "You didn't need to make her say thank you for that.  She's got to be terrified of losing you at this point."

"I want her to learn to be thankful for things, and to express it.  Too much was left unsaid between me and Joe..."  Zyla faded out, staring off into the distance for a long moment.  Finally, she shook herself free.  "Anyway, I want to thank you for making me go out today.  I actually do feel better about myself, and it was good to see other people, other places.  I guess it's good to know the world hasn't ended completely.  Just my little corner of it," she said, her grief slamming back into her again.

"Not ended, Zyla," David said.  "Just... redirected onto a temporarily bumpy road."

Zyla tried to smile at him.  "You and your metaphors," she replied.  "Come on, I don't even know how to make pizza.  How does Grace know about pizza already?"

"I described it to her once.  I did make it out to be the best thing since lagoonberry juice..."  Lagoonberry juice was Grace's favorite drink.

"Oh, dear.  I hope we get this right," Zyla said.

"Want a hand?"

"Yes!  That way I can blame you if it goes wrong!" she said with a giggle.

David smiled, and the two of them set to making the pizza.

 David was eating lunch in the mess hall when one of the soldiers came running in.

"Sir!" he said, coming to attention.

David nodded.  "What's up?"

"The batalisto's on the mirror for you, sir.  It sounds urgent."

"Okay," David said, and dropped his sandwich on his plate.  He got up and followed the soldier back to the communications room.

Five minutes later, David stepped back out of the communications room.  He took out his wand and pointed it at his throat.

"Almal hoormy," he said.  He waited a second for the spell to take full effect, and then he continued.  "Attention all personnel.  Attention, all personnel.  This is a Condition Change Alert.  This facility is now on Condition Red.  I repeat, this facility is now on Condition Red.

"We have just received word that the Vrudenans have broken through our lines at Burton, and their path of advance is in this general direction.  It is unknown if we are their target, or if they are advancing on Bolmont, to take the secondary government facilities there.  We will behave as if they are coming here.

"Troops 6, 18, 22, 27, 31, and 32 will report to me outside the communications room immediately.  All other troops are to go about their normal tasks, but with an eye out for anything suspicious or hostile.  Be careful, folks; weres can look human, but that doesn't mean every human you see is an enemy.  Identify your targets clearly.

"That is all for now," he said.  Pointing his wand to his throat, he said, "Peractus."  The spell had allowed everyone on the base to hear him at once, like an intercom system or public address broadcast.

David didn't have long to wait before the six troops he'd designated showed up.

"Okay, folks.  With a potential threat heading our way, I'm doubling up the guard force.  We will now have two troops on guard duty at all times.  Two more will be on base and ready to respond in less than two minutes.  The remaining two will be completely off duty, but you will remain on base, and able to respond to a threat within ten minutes.  If this situation goes on longer than about a week, I will rotate you six teams off the guard duty in favor of six others.

"Any questions?"

There were none.

"Okay.  Let's get to it.  For right now, troops 6 and 31 will be on duty.  27 and 32, you'll be on stand-by.  In eight hours, you'll rotate.  The on-duty troops will go to off-duty.  The off-duty will go to stand-by, and the stand-by will go to on-duty.  Any questions now?" David asked, to a few chuckles.  There were still no questions.

"Head out.  And keep your heads down.  Let's be safe out there."

The troops headed off, while David headed for his office.  He had to see what could be done about providing further physical security for the site, and that would require some quiet thought.

 "Portal for you, sir," the soldier said after sticking his head in through the doorway.

David looked up.  "Who is it?"

"Vocator Schultz, sir."

David nodded as he rose from his chair.  He followed the soldier into the communications room and sat before the designated portal for SC1HQ.

"Good morning, sir," David said.  "What can I do for you today?"

"We need you down at Fort Zelmo.  Get your troop down there ASAP."

"Sir?  I thought you wanted me to stick close to base in case the Vrudenans make it here."

"Yeah, well, they don't look like they're advancing fast enough to make it before you'll be back."

"Okay, what is it we're going down to do?"

"A bit of detective work.  I'll let the company commander explain it to you.  Fort Zelmo is the home of Supply Company 10.  Commander's name is Batalisto Rizzo.  You've got two days to do an initial investigation.  If it goes further, we'll re-evaluate then."

"Yes, sir.  We'll be on the move in fifteen minutes."

"Good man.  HQ, Out."

As David got up from his chair, he chuckled at the vocator's terminology.  Obviously, someone had been exposed to Earth radio procedure.

David found Vivian and Giendia relaxing under a tree, playing some kind of board game that David didn't recognize.

"What the heck is that?" he asked.

"Centaur version of chess," Giendia said.

"Uh-huh.  Who's winning?"

Vivian said, "She won't even tell me all the rules!  Who do you think is winning?"

David laughed heartily at that, then settled.  "Okay, well, you'll both have to forfeit this round.  We have a job to do."

Vivian immediately rose.  Giendia took the time to pack away her chess set.  David then explained what little he knew on the way to his glidetruck.

David waved his hand at the rear door on his truck, and it started folding itself upward.  A section of the floor lowered, creating a well in the floor.  David motioned Giendia in.  She was able to walk right inside the truck now, only having to duck her head.  Once fully inside, she had enough room to kneel comfortably.  Another wave of his hand, and the door unfolded back into place.

"Nifty," Vivian told him.

"At least this way we can all travel comfortably."

In short order, the three were making their way down a carriageway toward Cormatsen.  Fort Zelmo was just outside the city.

 "So you're the geniuses that are gonna tell me what happened to my wagon, huh?  Why you three?" the batalisto demanded.

"Capadra Columbo and I are both Rimohrs, sir," David said calmly.  "Investigation is what we do."

"And her?" he asked, waving his hand at Giendia.

"Soldier Dubnina is the third member of my troop."

The batalisto snorted.  "Troop?  Of three people?"  The derision in his voice was clear.

David said, "No offense, sir, but how far behind enemy lines have you been?"  The batalisto's uniform was completely free of decorations.

The batalisto scowled.  "Over this way," he growled, and led them to a pile of debris on the ground.  "This is what's left of the wagon after it fell."

"Were any of the pegs injured in the incident?" David asked.

"The one nearest to the wagon was.  Got hit by something, I think," the batalisto said.

"Where is he?"

"Holding pen," the batalisto said, waving dismissively in a direction off to his left.

David immediately turned to walk in that direction.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" the batalisto demanded.

"To do my job, sir," David said, and kept walking.

As they moved, Vivian said lowly, "David, what are you doing?"

"I'm a Peg Rider.  I'm the co-chairman of the Peg Riders.  It is my duty to tend to that peg.  The wagon parts can wait.  A living creature can't."

"I hope you plan on explaining that to the batalisto," she said.

"If necessary, I'll have the king explain it to him," David said.  "The Peg Riders' charter was approved by the royal court.  Violating it is subject to the law."

"You can be arrested for violating a guild charter?" Giendia asked.

"You usually aren't, but yes, you can be.  Guild oaths are a legally binding contract, and that kind of contract doesn't make you just civilly liable, but in fact criminally liable."

"Wow.  I didn't know that.  Then again, I don't belong to a guild."

"I belong to three of them, and formed one of them," David said.  "Believe me, I know all about guild charters."

The three entered the holding area where the pegs for the transport company were being kept.  As they walked toward the obviously wounded peg, someone stepped in front of him, holding his hand out against David's chest.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

David replied, "To help that peg."

"The pegs are my responsibility, thank you very much," the man said.

"Not while I'm here," David said.  "I am a Peg Rider.  Now step out of my way."

"And if I don't?" the man sneered.

David faded to insubstantiality and walked straight through the man.

The man jerked and then wiggled and brushed at his body with his hands.

"Yeaahhghh!" he said, continuing to wiggle in distress at the feel of having a ghost pass right through him.

David took little note of the man's discomfort, but instead studied the peg.

Once the other man had gotten over his queasiness, he looked at David.  "He ain't going to let you help him.  Every time I try to hold him, he yanks the leg out of my hand."

David simply turned around and grabbed the man's forearm.  The man immediately jerked it free.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Remind you of someone?" David said.  "If you're going to be stupid in the way you approach the peg, don't be surprised when he doesn't trust you to fix the problem."

David turned back to the peg, and ignored, for the moment, the injured back leg.  He walked up to the peg's side, patting him on the neck.

"Hurt a lot?" he asked the peg.

The peg nodded his head, nickering in discomfort.

"Did the wagon hit you?"

The peg shook his head negatively.

"The pulling rod?"

The peg nodded.

David nodded in understanding.  "I'm going to have to take a look at your back leg, to see if I can help out.  You kick me, and we're going to have words."

The peg nickered in understanding.

It didn't take David long to evaluate the wound, which was nasty, but not life-threatening.  He applied a healing potion to it and bandaged it, then he explained - to the peg - what needed to be done.

Turning away from the peg finally, he said to the man, "Change that bandage in two days.  Then take a refresher course in animal handling, with more emphasis on self-aware animals."

"I don't take orders from you," he said.

"Fine.  If you don't do it, I'll have you arrested for mistreatment of a self-aware creature.  The punishment for that is five years in a criminal management facility.  You fancy that?"

The man paled.

"I take my peg riding duties seriously, Bandador," David said, noting the man's rank on his collar.  "You will follow my instructions, or I will apply the consequences for not following them."  David started to walk away, then turned, "And, if I have to go that far, I'll court-martial your ass for insubordination, as well.  I outrank you, you stupid shit, so yes, you do take orders from me."

With that, David turned and walked back toward the pile of wagon parts.  Vivian was having trouble not smirking.  Giendia wasn't trying to avoid it.

"It was fun watching him do his little jig after you walked through him," Giendia said once they were out of earshot.

David snorted in amusement.  "Anything to entertain you," he said teasingly.  Giendia blushed.

"Are you done wasting my time?" the batalisto asked when they returned.

"There was little reason for you to wait for us here, sir," David said.  "But my duties did require me to deal with the peg first.  The wagon, moreover, is not in pain.  The peg was."

The batalisto grumbled, then said, "Whatever.  Here's what's left of it.  Do your shit."

"I will need to talk to the wagon driver and any witnesses."

"Driver's in the infirmary.  They rest are waiting for you in the mess hall," he said, then began to walk away.

"Friendly sort, isn't he?" Vivian asked under her breath.

The batalisto turned around.  "Something you want to say, Capadra?"

"She was speaking to her commanding officer, sir.  Her comment was not intended for your consumption."

"I'll decide what's intended for my consumption, Vigax."

"Fine, sir.  She was relating to me that she felt threatened by your behavior, and that perhaps I should file a report with the Inspector General's office to look into your worthiness to command.  As is appropriate and in line with regulations, she brought that concern to her immediate commander.  As such, as I said, the issue was not intended for your consumption."

The man went white.  "You sorry son of a bitch, I don't care who you think you know, No one threatens me on my base!"

"As you say, sir.  I will report back to headquarters that you have ordered us to leave the area."

"I gave no such order!" the man bellowed.

"You did, sir.  Since my statement, which you are referring to as a threat, still stands, and since you have told me I cannot make such a statement on your base, I am forced to leave your base."

The batalisto's face went from white to red.

"How dare you, you motherfucking punk," the batalisto said, and swung on David.

David blocked the man's punch easily, then decked him, breaking his jaw and knocking him to the ground.  David then drew his wand.

"Batalisto Rizzo, you are under arrest for assault on a fellow officer."

David waved to get the attention of two nearby guards, who came running over as the batalisto got to his feet.

To the guards, David said, "I am Rimohr Officer David Stroud.  You will take the batalisto into custody, and incarcerate him in the brig until charges can be filed."

"Sir?  Do you have the authority to arrest our CO?" one of the guards asked sincerely.

"A Rimohr Officer enforces the laws of whatever jurisdiction he is working in.  As such, I have not just the authority, but the duty, to arrest him for violation of military regulation.  Take him into custody, Capadra."

The batalisto wanted to snarl obscenities at David, but he couldn't make his jaw work.  The guards bound the officer's hands, and led him away.

"You're not really going to charge him for hitting you, are you?" Vivian asked.  "I mean, come on, you were egging him on pretty good."

"No.  Destroying his career will be good enough for me.  I hate it when little dogs want to get into pissing contests.  The job he was doing is important, but don't you dare disrespect those who put their asses on the line every day out where the fighting is going on."

"Yes, sir," Vivian said.

"Now, let's start looking at this wagon."

 "Well, all I see is a pile of broken wagon parts," Vivian said.  They'd been looking at them, trying to reassemble them, for the last four hours.  They had mostly achieved that goal, though some pieces were missing.  That was to be expected, since the wagon fell from a hundred feet above the ground.

David walked around the carriage several times before speaking.  "I keep coming back to the peg," David said.

"What do you mean, sir?" Giendia asked.

"He was hit on the rear leg.  But he wasn't hit by the wagon, he was hit by the pulling rod."

"The pulling rod?" Vivian asked, confused.

"This thing," David said, pointing to the straight pole that came out from the front of the wagon, to which the pegs were harnessed so that they could pull the wagon.  Unlike a typical arrangement for horses, the pegs had to be given a great deal of extra room to move, since they were flying and beating their wings.  They were tied to the pulling rod in an alternating fashion, so that they were never too close to each other.

"Okay... what about it?" Vivian asked.

"Well, it's a straight piece of wood which is being put under stress straight backwards.  If it broke on its own, it really shouldn't have swung that far to the left.  It should have mostly just dropped until the harnesses caught it.  Then the wagon would have fallen away by itself.

"But what it looks like happened is that the pulling rod was torqued somehow, so that when it broke, it swung wildly.  That implies some kind of extra pressure on it somehow."

"Like how?" Vivian asked.

"I don't know yet.  I think we should talk to the witnesses now."

"Be nice if we could talk to the driver," Vivian said.

"Good luck finding him.  He died yesterday.  He could be anywhere in Haven by now.  It says loads that the batalisto didn't even know the man was dead already."

"Yeah, I know."

"We have enough, though, I think, to figure this out.  Everyone who saw it said that the pulling rod isn't what broke first.  That would make sense.  If some part of the wagon hitch broke first, then it could have angled the whole thing to one side, and then the rod would swing based on that."

"But what would cause this stuff to break?" Vivian asked, fingering the wood of the wagon.  "This stuff is four inches thick right here."

David bent down to look at it.  He poked at it stiffly.  "No sign of rot or decay..."  After another minute, he said, "Well, what the hell is this?"  He looked closer, but couldn't get a good view.

"Anyone got a magnifying spell handy?" he asked.

"No, I don't know one," Vivian said.  Giendia, of course, knew no spells at all.

"Well, shit.  If I can't magnify the image, I guess I have one other option..."

David stepped back as he pulled out his wand.  He pointed it at the wagon and incanted, "Gawinitong masmalaki sur!"  Suddenly, the wagon began to grow.  It didn't stop until it was three times its original size.

"Holy shit!  Uh... sir," Vivian said, blushing.

David chuckled, then he pulled over a ladder and stood on it to look at the parts which were now too high in the air for him to see clearly from the ground.

"And... that's what I thought," David said.  He climbed down from the ladder.  "Okay, this case is solved.  We can go home now.  We'll take these two pieces with us," he said, ending the expansion spell so that they returned to their normal size.

"So what happened?" Vivian wanted to know.

 "Reporting back here was hardly necessary, Vigax," Vocator Schultz said when he met them in the assembly yard at SC1HQ.

"It wasn't very far out of our way, sir, and I thought you should actually see the evidence."

"Okay, so what have you got?  First off, what actually happened that needed investigating?"

"One of the peg-drawn wagons from Supply Company 10 was sabotaged, and the wagon separated from the pegs while in flight.  The wagon driver was killed, and one peg was injured.  The supplies were partially destroyed."

"You say sabotaged... are you sure it wasn't just an accident?  Rotten wood, strain from too many flights?  We've been working those wagons pretty hard these last couple months..."

"Quite sure, sir.  Here are the two parts that broke.  You won't be able to see anything just yet."  David used the same spell he had before, to make the parts much bigger.  He already had a ladder handy.  "If you'll climb up and look, sir, you'll better be able to see what I'm talking bout."

The vocator climbed up the ladder and looked at the top of the beam which had been part of the mechanism that connected the pulling rod to the wagon.

"Okay, what am I looking at?"

"Check the very end of the beam, where it's broken.  See how those fibers taper?  That's not what it should look like from a normal break.  That's a potion's action.  If you look at the pulling rod, it's the same thing.  These beams were exposed to a corrosion potion.  They had just enough strength to survive about a minute of flight, and then they broke loose.  The hitching beam broke first, and then the pulling rod couldn't handle the stress of holding the wagon at the odd angle, and it snapped.  The angle caused the pulling rod to twist and swing, and that's what caught the peg."

"Do you know which potion was used?"

"No way to tell at this late stage.  I can rule out several, because they would leave signs that I could track, but there are at least three or four that I know of that could do this without leaving a trace."

"So we have a traitor back at the base," the vocator said.

"Possibly, but I don't think so," David said.

"Why not?"

"Take a look along the hitching beam, about a foot away from the break.  See those marks?"

"Yes... so?  What are they?"

"Well, it'll require further analysis to be absolutely sure, but dragons know we've seen enough of them.  They're almost certainly claw marks."

"You think a werewolf did this?  That far into Callamandia?"

"Keep in mind, sir, we have werewolves living in Callamandia.  We can't guarantee that all Callamandian citizens of any kind are truly loyal to the king.  Some almost certainly aren't.  But even if it wasn't a traitor of that type, sneaking one or two people from Vrudena to Callamandia would not be that hard to do."

"Why only attack one wagon, then, though?" Vivian asked, then realized she was speaking out of turn.  "Oh!  Sorry, sir," she said to the vocator.

"No, Bandador, it's a good question.  What about it, Vigax?"

"My guess would be that this was a test run.  Either to see if it would work, or to see how we'll react.  I didn't notice anything particularly special or unique in the load the wagon was carrying, so that is probably not it.  This wagon wasn't the only one headed for that particular unit, so they probably weren't targeting a particular operation...  The only thing I've come up with that makes any sense is that they were just trying it out to see what would happen... to perhaps use it in a bigger way later."

"But wouldn't they realize that would risk us upping security around the supply depot?" Vocator Schultz asked.

"That, too, might be their goal.  Much like I played some games to get them to tie up troops around the travel gates, they might be trying the same ploy.  We'll never really know why, but it doesn't much matter.  They've shown us the supply depots are vulnerable.  We're going to have to do something about it, or we risk losing our supply chain."

"Right.  Get back to the ANFCC and write up your report.  I'll file a quick-action report to Ark North about the site vulnerability.  Leave this here," he said, motioning to the broken beams.

"Yes, sir.  Oh, by the way, sir, you can let Batalisto Rizzo out of the brig at your own discretion."

Vocator Schultz's eyes opened wide.  "Why is he in the brig?"

"He tried to hit me, so I arrested him.  I'll be filing an Interaction Report on the matter in the next day or so."

"You do realize that arresting a superior officer could be seen as insubordination?"

"Sir, I am still a Rimohr Officer.  I am still sworn to uphold the law.  Attacking a fellow officer is a violation of military regulations."

"But you're not going to press charges," Vocator Schultz said.

"I figure the big black mark in his record will be sufficient," David said.

"Uh-huh.  Very well.  I'll call and have him released... um... tomorrow.  Maybe," Schultz said.

David grinned.  "Yes, sir."

"Good work, Stroud.  To all of you.  Go ahead and head back to the communications center."

"Yes, sir!" David said, and saluted.  With that, the three headed back to David's truck.

 "So you and I haven't really had a chance to have a really personal conversation since all this shit started," David said.  He was walking with Giendia along the boundary of the ANFCC.  They weren't actually on duty, but David was doing his own patrol as the coordinating officer for the facility.

"What would you like to talk about, sir?" Giendia asked.

"You call me 'sir' once more during this conversation, and I'll have you demoted," David promised.

"But I'm already the lowest rank possible," Giendia objected.

"I'll think of something lower," David warned.  "C'mon, Giendia.  You've seen me naked.  I know for a centaur that doesn't mean much, but us humans don't usually go showing ourselves to just anybody.  I am your friend, first and foremost.  I had being your CO thrust upon me.  I much prefer being your friend."

Giendia blushed.  "I'm sorry.  After two years of having it drilled into your head, it's hard to turn it off."

"Is centaur training really that harsh?"

"Well, it doesn't really seem like it to us, but then we're all raised with it as part of our culture.  Being part of the military is everyone's job, in some way or another.  The four years of mandatory active service after two years of training kind of set everyone up to understand the military way of thinking."

"So you're just starting your active service?"

"Yes.  That's another reason I'm still just a soldier.  Though a few of my herd in training were promoted to the equivalent of capadra, most of us remained soldiers."

"You actually refer to groups of centaurs as herds?  I'd never... erm... heard that before."

Giendia grinned and giggled.  "Only trainees get referred to as a herd.  It's to kind of remove their centaurity, make them mere objects to be molded to the liderra's desires."

David nodded.  "Plebe, probie, greenhorn... yeah, we have terms like that, too."

"So, anyway, yeah, for two years, I've basically been told that no one has a name.  It's either their rank, or 'sir' or 'ma'am'."

"That would drive me absolutely batty," David said.  "But I guess at least it got you ready for all this insanity."

"Not really," Giendia said.

"Are you struggling?  I know how Vivian's doing, but you really haven't said anything to me about how you're dealing with all of this mentally."

"I'm not supposed to burden my commander with such trivialities," Giendia replied.

"What about your friend and lover?  Are you allowed to burden him?"

Giendia blushed crimson.  "I wasn't given instructions on that," she finally said when she'd gotten her blush under control.

"Well, as your CO, I'm telling you that, if you keep it all bottled up inside, you're going to become very ineffective as a soldier.  I would further advise you to find someone you can talk to about how you're feeling.  Now, as your friend, I'm telling you that I'm here to listen if you need to get something off your chest."

"Like my shirt?" she said with a smile.

"Well... maybe after," David said, smirking.  "Seriously, Giendia.  It's not a sin to be scared or unsure.  We all are."

"Even you?"

David snorted.  "If you only knew what runs through my head, you would never dare follow me into battle ever again."

"I doubt that, though I am very concerned about you," Giendia admitted.

"How so?" David asked.

"You seem much... less kind than you used to be.  You still treat Vivian and me as friends, but to everyone outside the unit, you seem to have a much sharper edge than you used to."

David sighed.  "Too much crap going on."

"Vivian told me a lot of what you've gone through over the last year or so.  I'm sorry that life has been so difficult for you."

"Thanks.  The problem is, it doesn't seem to be letting up.  First the thing with Dailey and the school, then Joe's death, Lise's death... a few other things," he said, still not willing to discuss what he'd done to the werewolf with her.  "I used to have a much higher tolerance for stupidity and disrespect.  I guess my tolerance tank is running low."

"You should find a way to refill it.  You could become a very unpleasant person if you don't."

David grunted.  "We were supposed to be talking about how you're dealing with the war, not me."

"I'm dealing with it by supporting a friend who needs someone to back them up from time to time."

"Well, at least you have a plan.  And I'm sure that friend appreciates your support more than you could possibly know."

 "A swift for you, sir," one of the soldiers said, sticking his head into the office.

"A what?" David asked in confusion.

"One of the falconswifts has brought a message.  It's addressed to you."  The soldier brought it in and handed it to David.

"Okay, thanks."

As the soldier left, David unfolded the note and looked it over.  He scowled for a moment, then got up from his desk and headed out to the communications room.

"Get me HQ.  I need to talk to the vocator," David told one of the soldiers.

"Yes, sir," she said, and then turned to open the communications portal.  In just a few minutes, the vocator was on the other side.

"What's on your mind, Vigax?" the vocator asked.

"Sir, I just received a communique from a Batalo Potter from something called the I-Squad.  He's asked me to come up to Remus to investigate another unusual incident.  What the hell is I-Squad, sir?"

"I-Squad is the Intelligence Squad.  It's a small sub-company group formed by Ark North to gather intelligence about how the weres are doing to us what they're doing to us."

"Does that mean I won't be getting sent on those little after-action investigations anymore?" David asked hopefully.

"Apparently not, since they're asking for you."

"I would rather not be transferred to a non-combat assignment, sir," David urged.

"I have no intention of transferring you.  But apparently I'm going to need to loan you out on occasion.  I-Squad has the arkigo's backing, so if they're asking you to go, you'd better go."

"Yes, sir.  I'll try to get back as quickly as I can.  I'll leave the rest of my troop here, so they can help out with the guard force."

"As you wish.  Good luck."

"Thank you, sir."

David signed off with the vocator, then went to find Vivian and Giendia.  They were once again playing centaur chess.

"Sir, why are you leaving us here?" Giendia asked.

"Because we don't need three people on a damned investigation, and because if the Vrudenans do make it down here, we're going to need all the people we can get to defend this position.  We don't need you two twiddling your thumbs on some stupid after-action report when you could be here, defending the center."

"Shouldn't I go, then?" Vivian asked.  "You're the base commander, and a better fighter."

David snorted.  "This base doesn't have a commander.  I'm in charge of the guard force, that's it.  I hand out assignments created by others.  The actual communications personnel aren't under my authority at all.  In any case, yes, I probably should send you, but they asked specifically for me, so I guess I'm stuck going.  In any case, I'll see you both in a couple days, most likely."

"Good luck, sir," Giendia said.

David just shook his head at her, then moved off for his glidetruck.

 "Batalo Potter?" David asked to the back of someone wearing a crisply pressed uniform.  With him was a younger female who looked a little less polished.

The officer turned around.  "Yes?"

David came to attention and saluted.  "Vigax David Stroud, reporting as ordered, sir."

Batalo Potter returned the salute, and David relaxed.  "I'm glad you got here quickly.  We need a sharper eye than we apparently possess to figure this one out.  By the way, this is my assistant, Vigax Ginger Hermany."

"Hi," the woman said in a friendly tone, and offered to shake hands.  David shook while nodding to her in recognition of her distaste at being called an "assistant" instead of a "partner".  He'd been there himself.

"So what exactly do we have here, sir?" David asked.

"We're not entirely sure.  Here's what we know.  Four days ago, we received an urgent request for assistance from the people in this orphanage, saying that the weres were overrunning the village, and, because the children were so young, they couldn't evacuate fast enough to get out in time.

"A company was ordered in to get the kids to safety.  We never heard from them again.  These are them, lying all about us on the ground.  From the state of the bodies, it's obvious that there were werewolves here, and they killed with impunity.  What we need to figure out is how."

"Did anyone survive?"

"No one we've found," the batalo said.

David nodded.  "What about the civilians?  Where are the kids?"

"There are no bodies of children anywhere here.  If the weres attacked them, they must have carried them off."

David nodded again.  This was going to be a tricky one.

"Can I ask, sir, why you called for me specifically for this case?"

"Because when I asked the Bolmont Division supervisory agent which of his officers could best handle this case, your name was at the top of his list," the batalo replied.

"Hmm.  I'll have to find a way to thank Agent Keef for his vote of confidence," David said sarcastically.

"You have a problem with the assignment, Vigax?" the batalo inquired.

"I'm a combat soldier, sir.  Vrudenans are attacking my country.  While I'm doing this, I'm not stopping them.  I understand the job is important, and that this can save lives.  It's just not what I expected to be doing during my time in the army."

"Yes, well... none of us always gets what we want.  I'll leave you to it."

Sensing an opportunity to make a friend who might be able to keep him from getting called in too often on these cases, David said, "I normally work with a partner, sir.  You mind if I borrow Vigax Hermany for a couple days?"

Batalo Potter looked between the two for a moment, then nodded.  "Maybe she can learn something from a professional," he said.  "Hermany, you're under his authority for the duration."

"Yes, sir," she said, and snapped to attention with a salute.  The batalo returned it, then walked off to the waiting peg-drawn carriage.

"Sorry about that," David said to her.  "Does he always treat you that way?"

"Pretty much.  I screwed up a couple times in the beginning, and he's never let me forget it.  I'm new to this whole investigating thing.  I was a records clerk before the war."

"Why the hell did they put you here?" David asked.

"I guess some part of my testing throughout my schooling said I'd be good at this.  Boy, were they wrong."

"Don't get too discouraged.  A lot of times, it just takes some experience to get the hang of it.  Anyway, don't worry about it too much.  I'm used to taking the lead on investigations, but I like to have someone to bounce my ideas off."

Hermany nodded.  "Good deal.  And who knows?  Maybe I will actually learn something from a professional.  Lord knows I'm not learning anything from Ron 'the Weasel' Potter."

Unable to resist, David chuckled, then asked, "Why do you call him the weasel?"

"That's his nickname from the others in the squad.  Apparently, he's very good at wiggling his way out of unpleasant assignments."

"Ahhh.  One of those.  Fun.  Well, okay.  Let's see if we can figure out what's going on with this stuff, shall we?"

"Where do we even start?  All I see are dead bodies."

"Yeah, and we know how they died, so that really isn't helpful.  Do we know if there is anyone left in this village?"

"There isn't."

"Do we know where they went, then?  I imagine they tended to move as a group..."

"No, I'm not sure.  They would have gone southeast, toward Bolmont, I imagine, since that would be directly away from the weres..."

David nodded.  "Okay, so what we need to do is find the people who used to live in this area."

"Isn't that going to be dangerous?  I mean, we are behind enemy lines right now..."

David shrugged, then motioned her to follow him back to his glidetruck.  Just as they were reaching the truck, a squad of werewolves emerged from the forest.

"What have we here?" the leader growled to his squad-mates.  "Looks like playtime."

"Yes, but the game will be short," David said.  "After all, there's only ten of you."

The werewolves began laughing as David pulled his wand.  He silently cast a spell, and the werewolf next to the leader vaporized in an instant.

"Whoops.  Sorry, only nine of you," David said.

"ATTACK!" the leader shouted, directing his troops in.

David was a blur.  The eight werewolves who came at him were soon lying on the ground, bleeding to death.  David stood in their midst, staring down the one remaining.  The lead werewolf hadn't joined in the charge.

"Now it's just you and me, asswipe.  One on one.  You can't hide behind your troops anymore.  You can either run like the coward you are, or you can try to beat me.  Either way, you're about to die."

"I surrender to you," the werewolf said, and knelt on the ground.

David walked up to him with a cold look on his face.  The werewolf looked up at him.

In a flash, David decapitated the were.

"I don't take prisoners," David said.  "It's not in my job description."  With that, David sheathed his sword and turned back to Ginger, who was looking decidedly peaked.

"Yes," he said, "Quite dangerous.  For them."

 It took three hours to catch up with the villagers, who were still moving down the road as a group.  David pulled ahead of them slowly, then stopped his truck crosswise in the road to block their way forward.

"What the hell's the big idea?" one of the men in the lead demanded.

David amplified his voice magically, and then said, "I won't delay you for long.  I need to speak to anyone who knows the whereabouts, or the fate, of the children from the orphanage in Remus."

A woman called out from the back of the group, and David moved through them as they cleared a path for him.

"What do you want to know about the children?" the woman asked when David got to her.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Right there," she said, pointing to a wagon.  David looked in, to see two dozen children of all ages, crowded into the wagon.  They were all peering back at him with scared interest.

David turned back to the woman.  "You never sent a request for assistance to the Callamandian Army?"

"No."

"The weres didn't attack you before you were able to get out of town?"

"No.  We left as soon as they told us to.  They said the weres were at least a day away."

"Why have you only gotten this far, in nearly a week?"

"The folks up front keep dithering about which way to go," she grumped.  "They spend half the day arguing."

David nodded.  "Okay.  Well, that's all I needed.  I'll let you get back on your way."

David returned to his glidetruck, and got in, then pulled off the road to let the caravan pass.

"So what's going on?" Vigax Hermany asked.

"I think we were duped.  Come on, I want to go back and look at the orphanage a little more closely."

"So what did you find?" Batalo Potter asked.

"It was a straight-up ambush, sir.  We located the kids from the orphanage, and the woman who takes care of them.  They never asked for help.  They were never in danger.  She says they left the village just as soon as they were told to, which was a full day before the weres arrived."

"So who sent the message?"

"The weres, of course.  They got to the village, found nobody there, which probably pissed them off, because they couldn't have any play time.  So, they came up with a plan.  They hid out in the orphanage; we found signs of particular hiding spots where they most likely waited.  Then one of them sends a message to the nearest army unit.  The mirrors don't work, so there's no visual or audio check on the message.  All we have are words on paper.

"So you send in the troops... and the weres jump out and slaughter them.  It's a beautiful plan, I have to admit.  We can hardly ignore a cry for help from defenseless children, and they know it.  This is the way the weres are fighting this war, sir.  You need to tell any unit that's going on a supposed rescue mission that they need to be as jumpy as a long-tailed drakee in a room full of rocking chairs."

The batalo grunted.  "You're sure of this?"

"As sure as I can be, sir.  The evidence is hardly something you could take to court, but I consider it to be fairly compelling.  We're never going to know exactly what happened; the soldiers who could tell us are all dead.  We did confirm that all of the soldiers are accounted for; no one is missing."

The batalo nodded.  "Good.  And," he said, looking over at Hermany, "how was your assistant?"

"She made a good partner, sir.  A little bit of seasoning, and I think she'll be fine."

The batalo harrumphed about that.  "Very well, Vigax.  Write this up and send it to I-Squad and your HQ for further study.  You're dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" he said, saluting.  After Batalo Potter walked away, he shook Hermany's hand.

"Good luck," he told her.  "If you'd like, I can see if I can get you transferred, but I don't know what kind of favors I've even got to pull that off with."

"No, it's okay.  I wouldn't want you getting in trouble over me.  I'll manage."

David nodded.  "Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.  Us Vigaxes... Vigaces?  Vigaci?  Us junior officers gotta stick together."

Hermany laughed, and then she walked off, as well.  David turned to his glidetruck, and headed back to the communications center.

How do you beat an enemy that's playing to your weaknesses all the time?