The Woodward Academy, Year 8

Chapter 5: October

 Just for fun, David decided to sneak inside his house without letting the others know he was there yet.  He wanted to see what they were up to while he wasn't around.  He first went up to the third floor, to change his clothes, and to take a nice, long shower.  The facilities at the comm center were adequate, but not luxurious, and the shower stalls were cramped even for David.  He didn't want to think about a couple of the bulkier guys who lifted weights.  He wondered how they didn't get stuck in there.

After cleaning up, David turned himself invisible and made his way down to the basement.  He was surprised to find signs of residents.  When David had placed the protections on the house, he had also enchanted the basement with a "spell of holding": an enchantment that would allow the room to be much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.  In the basement were a hundred individual "rooms", delineated only by lines on the floor.  In each room was a bed, dresser, dressing table, and two nightstands.  For privacy, David had provided each guest instructions on how to perform the privacy field charm.  So far, it appeared that six of the rooms were occupied.

Having seen what he came to see, David moved back up to the first floor.  He went to the kitchen, where he found Gwen making herself a snack.  He simply could not stop himself.  He walked up behind her silently, then grabbed her at the waist and hollered, "BOO!"

Gwen screamed and dropped the spoon she was working with, then spun around.

"David!" she cried as he became visible.  She gave him a strong hug for a long moment.  When she let him go, she slugged him on the arm.

"Ow," David said, rubbing the spot.

"That's what you get for scaring the living shit out of me!" she growled.

"Hmph.  I'm telling Jess on you.  Using violence against a friend..."

Gwen blushed, and David laughed at her.

"You on leave?" she asked when she'd gotten her blush under control.  She turned to continue making her snack as David answered her.

"Yeah.  I'll just be here for the day.  Tomorrow, I'll go see Zyla and Grace, and then I'll be back on duty."

"Why don't you just ask Zyla to come here?  Seems like it would make your life easier."

"Mine, but not hers," David said.

"What do you mean?"

"She's still trying to recover from losing Joe.  She needs the comfort of her own space right now.  Plus, when I do spend time with her and Grace, we're not interrupted.  Sometimes we talk about things that I'd rather not get stopped in the middle of."

"I didn't know you two were that serious."

"Oh, I don't mean relationship stuff.  At least, not my relationship with her.  But sometimes we're talking about how she's dealing with Joe's passing... or sometimes it's about me, and how I'm dealing with the war.  I kind of use her to absorb some of the bullshit I'm dealing with.  I actually feel pretty bad about that.  It's not like she needs more problems."

"Why not talk to Olissa about it, instead, then?"

"Don't tell her I said this, but Olissa could not deal with the shit I see, and do, on a daily basis as part of the war.  If I described some of it to you, you'd not want to eat that cobbler in front of you."

"Is it really that bad out there?" Gwen asked.

"The scout company's right in the thick of it, Gwen.  Forget being at the front; we're often behind enemy lines.  Plus, they've got me doing after-action reports of some battles, and that's enough to turn my stomach at times.  No, it's not something I can share with Olissa."

"Zyla's okay with it?" Gwen asked.

"She's heard stuff like it before, having been married to Joe."

Gwen nodded.  "Well, I guess.  It'd just be nice to see more of you when you do get days off."

"Gwen, are you and Jess here full time now?"

"Yeah.  Dad's living at our place."

"Does he have a job yet?"

"A temporary one.  He's still looking for a better job, but he's working at a toy store as an assemblyman."

"The toy store makes its own toys?"

"Lots of places do stuff like that here.  It's easier, in a lot of ways.  Plus, it allows the store to make the exact kind of toys that sell in their neighborhood."

David nodded.  "Is your mom still living here?"

"Yeah.  She's in the sun room with Jess at the moment."

"You didn't want to tan?"

"I laid out this morning."

"Say... who's running the shop for you right now?"

"Tammy."

"Who's Tammy?"

"You didn't know I had an employee?  Don't you read the financial statements?"

"Gwen, I don't even receive the financial statements.  They go to my 'guy'.  I only see them if he thinks there's a problem.  How long have you had an employee?"

"Four, five months, something like that."

"So the shop's going well, I gather?"

"Like gang-busters."

"That's great, Gwen.  I'm glad that's working out for you."

"Thanks.  I owe you big-time for getting us set up like you did."

David waved it off.  "Well, you eat your cobbler.  I'm gonna go see what everyone else is doing."

"'kay."

David made himself invisible again as he left the kitchen.  He hadn't yet finished his tour.  Pat, he saw, was reading a book in the library.  He stopped in to see that Denise and Jess were, in fact, still in the sunroom.  Several of the "refugees" were in the backyard killing time.  He had yet to find Olissa, which was starting to bother him.

He located her on the second floor, apparently just doing an inspection of the rooms to see that everything was still in good order.

As she was standing at the end of the bed in one of the bedrooms, David snuck up behind her and shoved her, causing her to fall onto the bed.  He waved his hand, and the door swung shut.  In just a second, he was on top of her, and his hands were mauling her breasts.

"If you aren't my master, you're about to hear an ear-splitting scream," she warned.  She had turned her head enough to know that there was no one else visibly in the room with her.

David leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Oh, I plan on hearing more than just one..." With that, he began to unfasten her blouse and slipped his invisible hand inside.

"Mmm," she purred as the fun began.

 "So how are things going here?" David asked Olissa once they'd finished with the entertainment portion of the morning.

"No problems.  A few people decided that things were getting too touchy, and so have moved in downstairs."

"I saw.  Is everything working as planned?"

"So far.  But they've only been here a few days.  People are still settling in.  I don't think they've gotten tired of the confines yet."

David nodded.  He rubbed his hand across her stomach and asked, "And how are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay, Master.  Always better when you're home, though."

David smiled softly at her.  "Any problems at all?"

"Not really.  Well..." she said, then broke off.

"What?' David pressed.

"I don't know if it's a problem or not.  Denise has been acting a bit odd the last few days."

"Odd how?"

"Withdrawn, kind of.  She doesn't talk to people much.  She just sits and listens to music, or reads a book from the library.  She hasn't even been playing with Eirwyn, which is weird, because she's really grown to like him."

"Hmm," David said with a frown.  "I'll have to talk to her later.  Speaking of Eirwyn, how's he adjusting to having a whole bunch of new people in his space?"

"Are you kidding, Master?  He's having a ball."

"And Bispy?" David asked.

"The guests have learned to leave Bispy alone."

"Who died?" David asked with a grin.

Olissa giggled.  "No one.  One of the children did get a little singed, however."

"He attacked a child?"

"Well, the little boy was poking him with a stick.  I'd already warned the boy three times.  Bispy decided to warn him a little more directly."

"I didn't realize Bispy had his fire yet."

"He can only produce small amounts, briefly."

"Is that why the child was only singed?"

"No.  Bispy didn't aim directly for him.  Scared the little boy half to death, though."

"I imagine.  His parents say anything?"

"The mother started to, but the father reminded her that they are guests here, and that this is Bispy's home, and that she was letting their son be 'an obnoxious ass', in his words."

David chuckled.

"How are you doing, Master?"

"I'm all right, Little One.  Thank you for asking."

"You seem a little more... light-hearted this visit."

"Yeah, well, the last few weeks haven't been as bad as some of the rest of the past months."

Olissa nodded.  "Good.  You need a break every now and then."

"Well, hell, I was breakfasting with the royal family just a few weeks ago.  How much more of a break do you want?"

"What?" Olissa asked, shocked.

David explained, briefly and leaving out many details.

"They gave me another crescent," he said, finishing up his story.

"Wow.  Three chevrons and two crescents.  And you're only twenty-five.  Just think how many you'll have when you're two hundred and fifty!"

"Ugh.  I'd better not be racking them up still.  I mean, c'mon, one chevron and a crescent were thanks to this damned war.  Possibly both crescents, depending on whether the queen's illness was natural or not."

"You think it wasn't?"

"I have no idea.  Thankfully, I wasn't tasked with looking into it."

Olissa nodded.  "How are your troopmates doing?"

"Fine.  A little annoyed at being left out of the majority of the tasks I've been put to lately, but that's life."

"Why didn't you take them?"

"Various reasons that all boil down to ether the job only needed one person, or because there wasn't time or resources to take them with me."

Olissa nodded.

"So...  We should probably get up.  It's almost lunchtime," David said.

"It's Jess' turn to make lunch," Olissa said.

"Who's cooking for the refugees?"

"We all do that together," she said.

David nodded.  "Say... is Jess any good at cooking?"

"It's edible," Olissa said.  "Gwen's better, but it's not her turn."

David grunted.  "I remember Gwen's cooking.  Too bad I missed her night.  Anyway, let's get going."

"Yes, Master."

After lunch, David corralled Denise upstairs, so that they could speak privately.

"Olissa tells me that you've been pretty down lately."

Denise just sort of shrugged and sighed.  She looked down into the yard where two children were playing with a F7risbee.

"Care to tell me what's the matter?  Is it something here at the house?"

Denise turned around and leaned against the deck railing.  "No, it's something that's not at the house," she replied quietly.

"Oh.  You're missing Roy?  You know, I won't be offended if you move out of here to stay with him."

"That's... not the problem.  And that solution isn't an option anymore."

David shook his head.  "I don't know what you mean."

Denise reached into her overcoat and withdrew a folded parchment.  She handed it to David.  Unfolding it, David only needed to see the title on the paper:

Announcement of Intent to Proceed with Dissolution of Marriage

David closed his eyes and sighed as he folded the paper back up.  He handed it back to Denise.

"I'm sorry," he said simply.

"Not your fault," she replied.

"Isn't it?  Roy liked me until Nick.  He moved out because of something I did.  You remained because of me.  So how, exactly, is this not my fault?"

Denise looked at him, and started to cry.  David immediately pulled her into his embrace and held her for a long moment.  As her crying intensified, he maneuvered her into the bedroom and closed the doors, so that no one in the yard would hear her.

For a long moment, David just held her and rocked slightly, stroking her hair and trying to comfort her as much as possible.

When Denise was finally able to settle down, David loosened his grip on her, but he didn't let go.  She leaned back so that she could look into his eyes.

"It isn't your fault because I had a choice.  I could have chosen to go with Roy."

"Why didn't you?" David asked.  "I know what you said at the time, but that doesn't seem adequate to the new situation.  I'm sure he tried to convince you to move over there more than once."

"No, he didn't," Denise said.  "In fact, I haven't actually spoken to him since the day he left here.  I tried a couple times, but he's blocked me on his mirror."

"Wow," David said.  "That's pretty extreme.  Still... why did you choose to stay here?"

Denise looked off to the side for a long moment.  David could tell that she was trying to decide whether she wanted to say something or not.  Finally, she turned back.

She said, "Because I decided that it was more important for me to keep you in my life, than Roy."

David stared at her, stunned.  "You've been married to Roy for twenty-something years..."

"Thirty-one, actually," Denise said.

"You've only known me for five... and for two of those, we weren't speaking to each other."

"I know."

"Is sex with me really that good?" he asked, both seriously, and trying to inject a little humor into the situation.

"Yes," she said with a brief grin.  "But that's not it.  For quite a while, Roy and I have been pretty distant with each other.  We were cordial, friendly even, but we were more like co-managers than true partners.  Do you remember, right after you and I got together the first time, that Roy warned you about trying to steal me?"

"Yeah..." David had told her about it later.

"I don't know why he told you that.  I honestly don't think, had you made a serious attempt to get me to leave him, that he would have fought all that hard for me.  He had a boyfriend, he could have simply started a new life with him.  He stayed with me for appearances more than anything, I think.  I didn't like that.  It became less and less about love, and more about tradition and convention.

"When you and I have been together... and I don't mean just the sex... you've made me feel like I was important to you."

"You are important to me," David said.

"I don't think I'm very important to Roy," she said.  "That's why I'm here, and not there."

David slowly leaned forward and kissed her.

They almost missed dinner.

"What's up?  I thought you were going over to Zyla's house today," Gwen said.

"I am, in just a minute.  But you and I need to talk first."

The serious look on David's face warned Gwen that what was coming might not be pleasant.  "Okay, what's going on?"

"Your parents are getting a divorce."

"What?"

"Have you noticed your mom's been kind of depressed the last few days?"

"Yeah.  I just figured she was missing Dad."

David shook his head.  "He sent her an announcement of intent."

"Wow.  That's... damn."

"You wanna sit?" David asked.  Gwen looked a little shaky.

"I'm okay... I think."

"You might want to sit.  I'm not done," David said.

Gwen sank slowly to the couch, and David sat beside her.

"What has Anne told you?"

"What, that you two were dating?  I know that..."

David shook his head.  "Not about me and her.  But you answered my question.  What... shit, this is hard.  What, exactly, do you know about me and your mother?"

"I know you two are awfully close..." Gwen said, giving David a penetrating stare.

"Gwen, I have slept with every female member of your family.  And I do mean all of them."

"You... and Mom?  So the divorce is your fault?"

"Not in the way you mean."

"You had an affair with my mom, but that's not how you broke up their marriage?" Gwen demanded.

"Gwen... your father is gay."

Gwen went white as a sheet.  "What?"

"I don't want to go into the long explanation of things, you can ask your mom later, but your dad is gay.  When your mom and I started being intimate, Roy approved."

"So... wait, why would he approve?"

"Because it took the pressure off him to satisfy her physical needs, something he had never enjoyed doing.  I'm not the only man your mother had 'an affair' with, Gwen.  I am the only one she's had a long-term affair with, though."

Gwen just shook her head, trying to clear the thought.  "But... I mean, if you sleeping with Mom wasn't what broke them up, what did?"

"Nick."

Gwen stopped and looked at him, confused.

"Your father cannot accept my version of events, at all.  He refuses to believe that Nick became a traitor.  He feels betrayed because your mother didn't leave here with him.  In fact, he won't even talk to her anymore."

"Shit," she said.  After a moment, she asked, "Is this why you told me to tell them I was gay?"

David nodded.  "That was the first time Denise and I were together.  In order for me to accept that, she had to tell me about Roy.  Once I knew about that, I knew they weren't going to have any problems with your lifestyle.  But I'd promised not to tell you or any of your siblings, so I could only tell you... obliquely."

"If you promised, why are you telling me now?"

"Because I told Denise I wouldn't say yes to her latest request with this secret still hanging between me, you, and Anne."

"So Anne doesn't know, either?"

"Not yet... well, probably.  Denise said she was going to tell Anne while I told you."

"You said something about her making a request?"

David took a deep breath.  "Your mother has asked to live here.  Permanently."

Gwen went even paler than she already was.  "You're going to marry my mother?"

"No.  At least, I don't think so.  You know how screwed up my love life is.  She didn't ask to get married, she merely asked that we stay together."

"And she's okay with Olissa?  And... I mean, you slept with Anne.  And Ellie."

"And you," David included with a mischievous grin.

Gwen blushed purple, but said, "I don't count."

"Like hell you don't," David said.  "But she has always known that I wasn't monogamous with her.  She knows I won't be now.  And she isn't saying that she will never move on, either.  She's just saying that, for the foreseeable future, she wants to be part of my household."

"Wow," Gwen said, struggling to come to terms with the thought.

"Are you okay with this?" David asked seriously.

"Uh... who cares?" she asked.

"I do.  You are still one of my best friends.  Your opinion matters a great deal to me."

"Thanks.  But, I mean, really, if I said no, would you kick her out?"

"No.  But I would try to find some way to accommodate both of you somehow."

"Do you ever just tell someone to take a flying leap?" Gwen asked.

"You know the answer to that already," David said with a grin.

Gwen blushed again.  "Yeah, okay, but... I mean... this is your life.  Even if I was against it, I've got no place telling you, or my mom, what to do."

"You said even if you were against it.  Does that mean you're not?"

"I think I'm still in shock, frankly.  But I can think of a lot worse guys for her to end up with.  At least I know that-"

"If you say that at least you know I won't hurt her, I will turn you over my knee and spank your ass until you can't sit down for a week!" David warned.

Gwen sputtered.  "What was that for?"

"You've said that to me twice.  Both times, the relationship ended up as a fucking nightmare!"

Gwen giggled.  "Yeah, I guess so.  Sorry.  But, I mean, it's true.  Are you in love with her?"

"No.  I do love her, but I'm not in love with her."

"Is she in love with you?"

"I don't know.  You'd have to ask her."

"Well, just don't play kissyface with her in front of me, and we'll be okay.  I don't think I could handle watching my mom do that to a guy I've had sex with."

David laughed.  After he settled, he put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Thanks, Gwen."

Gwen leaned forward, and the two of them kissed briefly.

"Now, I should really go see Zyla.  You should probably go find your mom.  She can answer all the questions I'm sure you want to ask now."

"Just one last question for you," Gwen said.

"Shoot."

"You asked me if Anne had told me.  Anne knew you were sleeping with Mom?"

"Yes.  She managed to see enough things to the point where she was convinced it was happening, and so I had to admit it to her.  She didn't know about your dad, though."

Gwen nodded.  "Okay.  I just wondered."

"Sure.  I'll see you later... well... maybe."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know how it goes.  Sometimes Zyla asks me to stay the night, just so she has some company in the house."

"Don't you find it creepy, dating her?"

"We're not dating, Gwen.  I'm just trying to help out.  I promised Joe I'd look after her.  She's having a really hard time, as I said yesterday.  Some people adjust quickly to loss.  She's not one of them."

"Oh.  Okay.  Well, if I don't see you later, then I'll see you on your next visit.  Any idea when that will be?"

"Not a clue."

"Okay."  Gwen kissed him again, then she headed out to find her mother.  David breathed a deep sigh of relief to have that conversation behind him, and then left to go visit his other family.

"You seem more like your old self today," Zyla said.  "How come?"

David shrugged.  "I've been doing a bit more mental work, and a bit less watching people die.  I guess that's improved my mood some."

"Good.  You could use the rest.  Does anyone in the military give a damn about your emotional state at all?"

"We have bereavement leave, when they can afford to give it to us.  But unfortunately, the situation isn't really allowing them to worry over things like people's feelings."

"Even when those feelings could end up being very destructive?"

David shrugged again.  "If they're worried about it, nobody's telling me.  Well, the king did say that he wasn't letting them send me on certain kinds of missions because he was concerned what it might do to me.  Other than that, no, no one's saying anything."

Zyla nodded.

"What about you?  You seem to be kind of down in the dumps today."

"It's been a very rough week.  Grace has asked about Joe three times this week.  The city complained about the condition of the yard, and the stupid Veterans Benefits Bureau still hasn't approved my application.  Frankly, I'm at my wit's end with them."  Zyla tried to fight it, but she started to cry, and it quickly built to a sobbing fit.

David moved over close to her and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in tight.  He didn't have to worry about Grace this time, as she was at a neighbor's house playing.  He held on as Zyla's body was wracked with shudders while the tears flowed freely.

After long minutes, she was finally able to stop.  David didn't let go of her just yet, however.  He produced a tissue from his pocket and let her take care of the aftermath, but he continued to hold on to her, trying to give her whatever support he could.

Once Zyla had settled down some, she leaned against David, trying to recover from the exertions she'd just put herself through.  She appreciated his willingness to put up with her episodes.

Finally, after more long minutes of simply relaxing together, David slipped his arm off her and moved away slightly, to give her space.

"I'm sorry," she said.  "I just can't help myself sometimes."

David nodded.  After yet another long moment of silence, he asked, "Would you prefer I not come here?"

Zyla looked at him in shock.  "Of course not!  Why would you even ask that?"

"It seems that every time I see you, I make you cry.  I know I've got to be a reminder of Joe.  I don't want to be making you feel even worse..." David said, airing an insecurity he'd been feeling for months.

"David... you don't make me cry.  You give me permission to cry."

David just looked at her in confusion.

"When you're not here, I have to be solid, for Grace.  Oh, there are moments, after she's gone to bed, or when she's on a play date, but even at those times, I have to worry she'll catch me.  She doesn't need that.

"When you are here, I know that you can comfort Grace if she needs to be.  I know I don't have to try to hold everything together all by myself.  I can... let myself feel it."

David nodded in understanding.

Zyla moved closer to him and looked him dead in the eyes.  "Please don't ever feel like you're not welcome here.  It may not seem like it, but I always feel a lot better when you visit.  I just wish you could do so more often."

"I come home as much as they'll let me," David told her.

"I know.  That wasn't a complaint.  Just a wish.  You've been... well, you've been a savior, really.  I don't think I'd have survived the last few months without your help.  Don't ever worry about coming here, please," she said, then wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder, pushing herself tightly against him.  David wrapped his arms around her, as well, and the two sat silent, just dealing with the moment together.

 David had not spent the night at Zyla's house, but he had taken care of the yard, tried to have another talk with Grace about Joe, and had looked over the paperwork that the VBB had sent, which said that they were unsatisfied with the papers she had filed.  He had told her that he would talk to his CO about it again.

He had not yet had a chance to do so, however, as Troop 12's mission had to start immediately, in preparation for a coming battle.  They were currently hiding in some brush outside a major were encampment.  The Callamandian Army was on the other side of the encampment, and about ten miles away.  The battle would happen in the morning.

Troop 12, however, would be doing its part tonight.  David looked through his binoculars into the camp.  It was hard to make out much, since it was nearly pitch black, the moon having set two hours before.  But his target was too big to miss, even in this dim light.

He examined the energy cannon from breech to mouth, and back again.  The description of the weapon that he'd been given was very apt: it looked like a huge pipe on wheels.  It didn't have the necessary bulk of an Earth cannon, and it was also far larger, having a diameter wide enough for David to actually crawl inside.

Which was a good thing, since that was the plan for the evening.

David put away his binoculars, and then turned to the two with him.  "I'll be back shortly.  Under no circumstances are you to reveal yourselves.  The infantry may be only ten miles away, but they're not going to come save our asses, so stay down, stay quiet, and don't get noticed."

"Yes, sir," Vivian said seriously, nodding.

With that, David faded to invisibility, and headed out of the trees and into the camp.

As David neared the area where the cannon was sitting, he felt a very slight tingle.  He paused for a moment to try to sort that out.  It was a feeling he'd had before, but he couldn't place it.  After waiting a minute to see if it would go away, or at least trigger his memory, he shrugged and decided to press on.

As David got within thirty feet of the cannon, the tingle began to intensify.  It wasn't yet too unpleasant, but it gave hints it was going to be.  Still, he had a job to do.  The cannon sat within a restricted area of the camp, and there were two guards standing on each side of the area, only letting in those people who were supposed to have access.  David could simply walk right past them...

But he couldn't.  As he got within five feet of them, the tingling turned into pain.  It was as if he was receiving electric shocks all over his body.  Looking down, he realized that he was even becoming partially visible.

Holy fucking shit, what is this? David thought in the beginnings of panic.

Whatever it was, he knew he needed to get the hell away from the camp before he became easy to see, and thus alerted the guards.  He walked as quickly as he could in silence, until he was once again at the edge of the camp.

As soon as he'd moved away from the cannon, the pain had stopped.  He was completely invisible once again, and the sensation had reduced to the tingling it had started out as.

Finally, David's memory clicked in.

The management facility.  That's where I've felt this before.  During David's entire stay at the Northern Callamandia Criminal Management Facility, he had endured this very slight tingle.  After a day or so, he had grown to completely ignore it.

But why did it turn into such pa...ah.... right.  I'm ghosted.  So that's a magic restriction field.  Shit, that's going to make this a lot more complicated.

David moved back into the trees and made himself visible once he was back with his troop.

"That was damned fast," Vivian said.

David shook his head.  "We have a bit of a problem.  I can't go in there invisible, which means we have to have another way in."

"Didn't you have a backup plan?" Vivian asked.

"No.  I never thought they'd be using something that could stop me outright."

"What are they using, ghost prevention devices?"

"No.  If they were using that, I wouldn't be able to go in at all.  They're using a restriction field."

"Damn," Vivian said.  "Will what we're planning even work, then?"

"Yes, because they can't fire the cannon within the field.  They will have to move it to use it, and that will allow our little present to function just fine.  But first, we have to get in there.  Any thoughts?"

Vivian stared off with a frown on her face, trying to think of something.

"How many guards do you have to get past?" Giendia asked.

"Two.  There are two guards at each of four entrances to this restricted area.  I don't know what else they're keeping in there; they sure don't need that many entrances just for the cannon."

"Can't you just... zap them?  I mean, get close enough to do it quietly, then use a spell to take them out?" Giendia asked.

David shook his head.  "That's the problem.  We can't let them know we're here.  Not just for our own safety, but because if they think something's going on, they will check the cannon out, and they'll discover what we've done.  We have to get in, and get out, without anyone knowing anything weird happened."

"Do you have any potions with you?" Vivian asked.

"Several, including about fifteen base potions.  Why?"

"Can you make a sleep potion?"

"Sure.  How would I get it to them?"

"Can't you just walk up to them and vaporize it?  Or do they have to drink it?"

"No, they could breathe it in.  But I can't get close enough to make sure they get a dose."

"Shit."

"How close do you need to get?" Giendia asked.

"Right next to them would be best.  No more than two or three feet."

"What if you disguised yourself as a were?" Giendia asked.

"How?" David asked.

"Glamour and morphed clothing," Vivian said.

David shook his head.  "The glamour would be affected.  And now that I think about it, a sleep potion isn't a good idea, either.  Not this way.  Some stranger walks up to them, and then they suddenly fall asleep, and when they wake up, the stranger is gone?  Not gonna work."

"Well, what then?" Vivian demanded.

David thought for a while.  "I don't suppose you know a petrification spell, do you?"

Vivian said, "Haven't used it in a long time..."

"Were you any good with it?  I was never able to make it work."

"Oh, sure, I didn't have any trouble with it.  But, like I said, I'm rusty."

"You can practice it on me a couple times before we go," David said.

"You better do me, instead," Giendia said.  "Just in case.  Vigax Stroud is a better defense than I am."

David grumbled at his title, but didn't say anything.  For a few minutes, Vivian practiced her spellcasting on Giendia.  It was fascinating to watch her freeze over and over again.  Finally, Vivian felt she had the hang of it.

"Okay, let's morph our clothes, just in case we get spotted."  They each turned their uniform into a Vrudenan one.

David led off, and Vivian followed.  They moved in a crouch to the edge of the trees, and then stopped, waiting for a long moment to see if there was anyone they needed to avoid.  Seeing nothing, they dashed across the open space to the edge of the nearest tent.  Inside, they could hear raucous snoring going on.

Moving quickly, the two dashed from tent to tent, making their way to the security area.  They finally slipped up against the wall of the security area, fifteen feet to the right of the nearest guard.  The other guard was another ten feet beyond that.

"Remember," David whispered directly into her ear, "Wait until they're not paying attention to each other."

Vivian nodded silently.  The two stood, unmoving, for a couple minutes before Vivian finally chanted the hex.  Seeing the change in the near guard, she slowly moved forward a few feet, and chanted the hex again.  The second guard was now as frozen as the first one.  She motioned to David, who had stayed back and kept his eyes out looking for trouble.  Jailla was posted in a tree, but he was a fair distance away, and in the dark, he couldn't see a whole lot, either.

Once Vivian motioned, David moved past her and between the guards, rushing into the security area.

"You wait here and keep an eye out," David whispered to Vivian.  She nodded, and then hunkered down at the base of the cannon, using the darkest shadows she could find to hide in.

David moved to the mouth of the cannon and crawled inside.  He made his way back down to the breech end.  He removed a crystal from his pocket, and replaced one within the cannon with his new one.  The operation took less than ninety seconds.  That done, he pocketed the cannon crystal and climbed back out of the cannon.

Since he could not see her, he made a small mouse noise to get Vivian's attention, and the two moved out of the security area, across to the nearest tent.

Vivian looked back to her two victims, and lifted the hex on them.  As there was no obvious change in their environment at all, neither of them even knew they had been hexed.

David patted Vivian on the shoulder, then he waved her to follow him.  They made their way out of the camp and back to the woods, where Giendia was waiting.

"How did it go, sir?" Giendia asked.

"No problems.  Of course, we'll have to wait until sun-up to see if it actually worked.

"What happens at sun-up?" Vivian asked.

"18th Battalion gives these assholes a little wake-up call.  Now, come on.  We want to circle around to be on the south side by sunrise."

"Sir, shouldn't we stay here, to help with the battle by firing from the rear?" Giendia asked.

"There aren't enough of us to play that kind of game.  All it would take is turning a single troop of infantry around this way, and you two would be dead meat.  No, I was told explicitly to stay out of the fighting.  We are to remain through the battle as observers, to report on any tactical deficiencies we see, or any intel we can gather from the way the Vrudenans fight.  Of course, we also want to see how well our little present works."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, let's go.  We're going to take a wide-ass circle, to keep outside their patrol radius, so this is going to take a while."

 By the time Troop 12 had completed its shift to the south, 18th Battalion was already on the move.  They weren't yet in range of David's senses, but Jailla was watching them.  He also kept looking upward, waiting to see the inevitable were-condors.  David didn't know what actual bird those weres represented, because they were huge, much bigger than even a condor, but that was what they got called, at least among the scout company.  David assumed that the were-condors were more powerful than the were-raptors that he had shot down with regularity up until a few weeks ago, but he didn't really know what their capabilities were.  That worried him.  For the moment, he decided just to focus on the mission at hand, and he returned to watching the Vrudenan camp.

At eight, the were company changed the guard detail.  It was clear that they were all waking up and getting organized.

"I wonder what their plan for today was," Vivian said.

"Probably just a move further south.  There wasn't anyone here to fight until yesterday."

Vivian nodded.  Giendia was standing fifty yards away, keeping watch for any active patrols.

In another half-hour, David didn't need Jailla's eyes anymore.  He could feel the battalion coming.  The number of wizards on the move caused a shift in the magical field, and if you were attuned to it and paying attention, you could feel it.  It was part of David's Advanced Divination training, and he was using every trick he had ever learned - and making up a few as he went along - to try to fight this war.

 The Vrudenans were not caught by complete surprise.  The guards eventually heard the approaching troops and sounded the warning.  The chaos in the camp didn't last too long before officers were barking orders, and troops were running to their positions.

"Vivian, watch for leaders," David said.

"I thought we were supposed to stay out of this," she said.

"I said watch for them.  I didn't say attack them."

"Okay."

The battle soon started in earnest, and energy blasts and lightning bolts were flashing forward and back.  The screams of the injured filled the air, and the sizzle of passing magic could almost be felt.

"There's one," Vivian said, pointing.  David looked, and saw a werewolf standing atop a large box, directing his troops.

David moved over to Giendia and pointed to him.  "Take the motherfucker out."

"Sir, I thought we weren't supposed to get involved."

"If you take the shot, no one will be able to tell where it came from.  Your arrows are basically invisible.  Now, take him out.  That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

Giendia nocked an arrow to her bow, aimed, and then let the arrow fly.  The arrow pierced the werewolf's left eye, and he let out a screech as he fell off the box.  He fell forward, and as he hit the ground, it drove the arrow the rest of the way into his head.  He wasn't dead, but he wasn't going to be directing any troops anymore, either.

"Good work," David said, and rested his hand against her human back for a moment.  He then returned to Vivian.

"I thought-" Vivian started.

David interrupted.  "We're not getting involved in the battle.  We committed an act of sabotage.  It's just that we sabotaged a living being, instead of a machine."

"Right," Vivian said with a smirk.

"The loss of a senior leader will make their use of the cannon more likely.  It's one of those weapons you don't use unless you have to, because of how unwieldy it is."

Sure enough, in just a few minutes, David could see the Vrudenans preparing to move the cannon outside the restriction field.

"Why don't they just take the field down?" Vivian wondered.

"Takes too long to put it back up," David said.  "That is a nasty, heavy spell.  I'm actually surprised they have soldiers capable of pulling it off.  The two of us, together, couldn't do it."

"Wow."

"Yeah.  Now, let's see if our little trick works."

Once they'd gotten the weapon set up, they tried to aim it the best way they could.  This was a judgment call, because the weapon had to be arced over the heads of the friendlies, but not so far as to miss the enemy.  The cannon was also not always predictable about the amount of power that came out, which would affect the trajectory.  To be fired, an artillery soldier would cast a spell to load a small amount of energy into the weapon.  Tiny variations in the amount put in could cause massive differences in the amount that came out.

Once they had the weapon set up, a cry went up from the back.  The Callamandians tried to maneuver clear, but the Vrudenans did their best to stay engaged, to make it impossible for the Callamandians to get out of the way.

"Here it comes, I hope," David said.  The artillery soldier at the back of the cannon leveled his weapon - which was apparently also his wand - at the entry port on the cannon, and he uttered a spell.  A blast of yellow light shot into the cannon, and disappeared.

Now, what was supposed to happen was as follows:  The shot fired by the soldier would enter a central control crystal, which would then divert the energy out to a set of amplifier crystals.  There were a dozen amplifier crystals in the cannon, and they would each add energy to the shot, and then send the newly augmented energy back to the central crystal, which would "decide" if the energy had reached the right level.  If it had, then it would fire the energy out the mouth of the cannon.  If it, in its inanimate magical wisdom, decided that more energy was needed, it would send it back out to the amplifier crystals for another amplification. 

That's what was supposed to happen.  Unfortunately for the Vrudenans, what David had done was to replace the control crystal.  The control crystal he had inserted had no "fire" option.  It would always redirect the energy back to the amplifier crystals. The amplifier crystals would roughly double the energy they received, drawing from the natural magical energy around them, so the power inside the cannon would grow very quickly.  The energy would continue to build until the crystals reached a point where they couldn't contain it anymore.  What happened then was a little uncertain, but everyone agreed it wasn't something you wanted to be close to.

The cannon always took a fair amount of time to fire, which was another reason it wasn't used right away.  After five seconds, the artillery officers started to look confused.  After ten, they were looking worried.  Once it had been a full half-minute, they were nearly panicked, but they couldn't leave their posts any more than the infantry could.

It took forty-two seconds before the crystals finally gave out.  What happened looked remarkably like a tiny nuclear explosion.  The flash of light was blindingly intense, and the shock wave knocked David onto his back.  Vivian ungracefully landed on top of him, and he grabbed her to keep her from hurting herself.  The roar of the explosion washed over them, a physical force all its own.  David did his best to squint against the brilliant light, and he saw a column of magic erupting straight up into the air.  It was as wide as the cannon had been long.

Once the light and the pressure waves had passed, David gently rolled Vivian off him and got to his feet.  What he saw was shocking.

Where the cannon had been, there was now a great wide hole in the ground.  Three-quarters of the Vrudenan camp was inside the crater.  The other quarter was blown to pieces and scattered everywhere.  At least eight hundred werewolves had just died instantly.

"Holy shit," David breathed.  After a moment, a malevolent grin crossed his face.  "Take that, you motherfucking animals."

After taking in the destruction for a few more moments, David turned to go find out if Giendia was all right.  She, too, had been knocked over by the blast, but wasn't injured.  They had fortunately been well outside the camp, so had only gotten some blast effect.

With the utter destruction of their camp, the death of every one of their leaders, and the fact they were now outnumbered three to one, the remaining weres eventually surrendered.  By the time they did, they were outnumbered five to one.

David and Troop 12 didn't stick around for the cleanup.  Their job was finished, and they would move on to the next task.  Their transport was already waiting.

 "Hey, David?" Vivian asked, sticking her head in through the doorway of his office.

"Hey.  What's up?" he asked, waving her in.

"I just had a question.  I was thinking about the way that energy cannon blew up."

"And?"

"Couldn't we turn that into a bomb somehow?  Something they could use during battles?"

"Well, I'm sure somebody is looking into it, especially after seeing what happened.  There are several problems that would have to be overcome, though."

"Like what?"

"Well, first off, the control crystal has to be activated by a spell.  Generally speaking, if it's a 'bomb', there's no one around to activate it.  It's planted and then left."

"Okay, but what if you made... like... a grenade?  Or something we could launch from a small catapult or something?"

"The reason that Callamandia doesn't use energy cannons in the first place is that they restrict mobility.  A catapult would have the same problem.

"As to grenade-sized ones, that's a more interesting concept, but it still has issues.  The crystals inside an energy cannon are taller than I am.  They're about six to seven feet long.  You could use smaller crystals, of course, but the energy would be much less."

"Is that a bad thing?  That explosion yesterday was huge."

David bobbed his head in agreement.  "But I don't know if they would be powerful enough to do anything, once you sized them down to something a person could carry several of.

"Then there's the time issue.  You saw how long it took for the cannon to explode.  We don't currently know if that time will remain constant, or if it's dependent on the specific crystals and their strength.  So imagine, you throw a grenade, but you have no idea when it will go off.  Not really useful."

"But they could test to figure that out, couldn't they?"

"Yes.  And like I said, I'm sure somebody's looking at it by now.  Just don't expect to see energy grenades any time soon."

"Would they be as... well, gruesome... as Earth grenades?"

"Probably not.  You'll notice that there was no shrapnel from yesterday's explosion.  The cannon was just... gone.  I imagine that the same would be true for a grenade-sized explosion.  It would probably vaporize everything within a certain radius, and I'm sure that radius would include the entire grenade."

Vivian nodded.  "I was just curious.  It's funny that we haven't adopted more Earth-style weapons... or at least adapted them to magical forms.  Especially after the assassination attempt on the king."

"It's not worth it, in most cases," David said.  "Okay, we could use guns... but now you have all those disposable parts lying around that have to be replenished.  A wizard's wand is a lot lighter, a lot more versatile, and only needs to be replaced when it gets broken, which even in combat, doesn't happen very often."

"But we can't stop bullets like we can energy balls."

"Sure I can.  It just hurts like hell," David quipped.  Vivian chuckled.

"You know what I mean," she said with a grin.

David nodded.  "It's true, but like I said, the down side kind of outweighs the up side.  Plus, I think that most Callamandians would think that guns were pretty barbaric weapons.  I mean, you don't even have to know anything about them to kill someone, all you have to do is point and shoot."

Vivian nodded.  "But... what about some other Earth tech?  Like, maybe night vision goggles?  Those would help.  Right now, we can't attack at night, because the weres have much better night vision than we do."

David paused thoughtfully.  "I'm going to have to ask my friend Gwen about that."

"About what?"

"Well, the problem that NVGs would have is that they're battery powered.  You'd have to replenish the batteries.  Now, my friend Gwen invented a battery crystal that could replace normal batteries, and would be able to be recharged by the soldier carrying it.  But I don't know if those crystals give off a magical signature.

"That's the other thing to remember: if you pay attention, you can feel magic being used nearby.  You don't want to be doing things that are going to telegraph your position to the enemy.  But I will have to talk to Gwen, like I said.  I don't know if those can be sensed or not.  If not, then yes, buying some NVGs, at least for the scout troop, would be a great idea.  We might even consider some communications gear... though we wouldn't be able to use anything long-distance, because we don't have the infrastructure.  Come to think of it, that's probably not going to help anything, given the distances over which we'd be working.  Never mind.  But the NVGs could help.  And there's probably some other stuff.  Really, all the scout troops should be carrying binoculars, like I do."

Vivian nodded.  "Well, I just kind of wondered about it, was all."

David nodded in reply.  "If you think of any other Earth stuff we might use, let me know.  I'm gonna have to spend more time thinking it over, as well.  Right now, though, I need to call Vocator Schultz."

"What about?"

"Paperwork."

"Oh, fun," she said with a smirk.  "I'll let you get to it, then."

David headed out of his office and into the comm room.  The soldier made the connection to SC1 HQ for him, and then he sat down.

"Good timing, Vigax.  I was just about to call you," the vocator said.

"Oh?  What's up, sir?"

"We located another cannon for you to take down," he said.

"Where at?" David asked.

The vocator held up a map and showed him.  "We're planning a battle next Monday.  That gives you a few days to get there and take care of things."

David nodded.  "We'll leave immediately."

"Good man.  Say, what did you call me for?"

"Oh!  Almost forgot.  Do you remember sending the paperwork for Garibaldi over to the VBB?"

"Of course."

"Was that the standard paperwork?  Was there anything unusual about it?"

"No.  I mean, other than the brevity of his service record, it was exactly what I've been sending.  Why, is there a problem?"

"The VBB is being difficult.  They don't want to accept the information you sent as legitimate, though they haven't given a solid reason for that."

The vocator frowned.  "Well, I don't know what more I can do on that front.  As I said, I sent them the normal, official, forms."

"Yes, sir.  Don't worry about it.  I'll take care of it."

"Good man.  While we're on the subject of administrative annoyances, I should let you know that your request for an assistant has, for the moment, been denied."

"I didn't make a request for an assistant," David objected.

"Okay, then the king's request on your behalf was denied.  He didn't make it an order, so it went through the normal channels.  Normal channels denied it."

"Right," David said with a smirk.

"Anyway, good luck with the cannon."

"Thank you, sir.  ANFCC-East, out."  David smiled as he stood up.  If they wanted to sound all Earth-like, David would play along.  It was a lighthearted moment in an otherwise annoying period of his life.

Grunting to try to clear his thoughts, he went off to find Vivian and Giendia, so they could get going.

 "So when are we going to sabotage the cannon?" Vivian asked.  They'd been staring at the camp for the better part of a day now, and they had just woken up from another thankfully uneventful night.

"The vocator said they were planning to attack tomorrow.  We'll do the sabotage tonight."

"Why did we wait?  We could have done it last night, we had plenty of time..."

"But it risked them discovering it and fixing it.  This way, they hopefully won't have a chance."

"Right," Vivian said in agreement.  "You think they've figured out what happened to the first one?"

"Probably not.  There was no physical evidence left, so I imagine they probably just think it was some kind of accident or fluke.  Things will get trickier after this time.  Once could be written off as bad luck.  Twice in a row, that's suspicious.  I imagine it will be harder to get to the next cannon."

"Joy," Vivian said.

David just grunted.  He turned his attention back to the base, using his binoculars to look things over.  "Hello... where are you going?"

"What's up?" Vivian asked.

"You remember that guy we saw come into camp right before sundown last night?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, he's already up and moving.  He's heading out of camp, going north.  In fact, he's moving in the same direction he was last night.  Okay, we need to find out who this guy is.  You head that way," David said, pointing.  "I'll go tell Giendia what's going on, and we'll intercept him at that big fallen tree we passed yesterday."

"Got it," Vivian said, and moved off into the trees.

David quickly made his way over to Giendia, who had been standing outer guard, making sure that no one was sneaking up on them.  Jailla was helping her.

"Come on, we've got a Vrudenan to catch," David said as he walked past her.

"Sir?  If you climb on, we can move faster," Giendia said.

David grunted, then hopped up onto her back.  He pointed in the direction he wanted to go, and she moved off through the forest, moving as quickly as she could while still being mostly silent.  It was quite a bit faster than David could have moved.

In short order, they reached the spot they wanted.  The werewolf would have to pass by this point, unless he changed direction.

David slid off Giendia's back, and then moved forward, crouching by the fallen tree.  He was looking through a thick section of bushes, but he knew he would be invisible to the approaching enemy.

After a few minutes of waiting, he saw the courier - it was probably a courier - come around a bend in the path.  He was moving quickly, as if he was in a hurry.

As the enemy reached the tree, David cast a silent charm.  Suddenly, a deep growl was heard.  The werewolf drew up short as, from the other side of the tree, the head and neck of a dragon appeared.  The dragon, a deep, mottled green color, raised up and looked down at the werewolf.  It let loose another growl, one that shook the ground.

Just as the werewolf turned to flee, the dragon lunged.  A quick spell from David knocked the courier to the ground.  An arrow from Giendia pierced his back.  A thrust from David's sword finished the matter.

David stood, waiting for several minutes.  Nothing happened.

"I guess this one wasn't carrying a booby-trap," he said to the other two.

"What was he carrying?" Vivian wondered.

David did a thorough search of the body, locating the papers that the Vrudenan had tucked inside the lining of his coat.  He stuck those in his own coat, and then stepped back.

"Okay, you two head back to our lookout spot," David said.

"What are you going to do?" Giendia asked curiously.

"Something you don't want to see," David told her bluntly.

"David?" Vivian asked.

"That roar was loud enough, they probably heard it in the camp.  If they come looking, it needs to appear like this courier was attacked by a dragon.  You... don't really want to see what I have to do to make that look right, do you?"

Vivian paled slightly, and Giendia looked decidedly green.  Vivian said, "No, not really.  Okay.  You'll be right behind us?"

"Shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

After the two ladies had moved off, David started casting spells.  He split apart the werewolf's body, and vaporized some bits of it, to make it look like he'd been partially eaten.  He spattered the were's blood all over the fallen tree and ground, to make it seem the dragon had viciously torn him limb from limb.  Once that was done, he created some marks in the ground that would make it look like a dragon had been lying there.

With all that done, David looked around.  The only other thing to do was mask the scent of the humans.  This was trickier, because Ain't Nobody Here wasn't intended to last this long, so he employed another strong scent potion that would simply mask the odor of pretty much everything within the area.

With all that done, David made his way back to their lookout spot.

"Any reaction?" David asked.

"Seemed like maybe one guy wanted to go look, but his superior just barked at him, I guess telling him to mind his own damn business and get back to his duty.  Other than that, no."

"Good."

"What did you do to him?" Vivian asked.

"You don't want to know, and leave it at that," David said bluntly.

"How can you... do things like that?" Giendia asked.

"You don't want to know that, either," David replied flatly.  "Go ahead and return to outer guard.  We're not doing anything till nightfall, so we've got a long wait.  Vivian, you keep an eye on the camp.  I'm gonna look through the papers that guy was carrying."

"Yes, sir," she acknowledged.  David scowled at her, but didn't say anything.  He went over and sat against a tree to read through the courier's papers.  Thankfully he knew a translation spell, since these, unlike the last ones, were in Vrudenese.

It didn't take too long for him to see the important part.

"Fuck me," David said.

"Can't, sir, I'm on duty," Vivian quipped quietly.

David thought it was funny, but what was in front of him prevented him from even smirking.

Somebody's going to die.

 "What's up, Vigax?  You don't generally come down this way..." Vocator Schultz asked.  After sabotaging the cannon and making sure it had blown up, David had returned to ANFCC-East to drop off Giendia, but he and Vivian were now at SC1 HQ.

"Sir, I need to request a short leave of absence for myself and Bandador Columbo."

"I'll need a reason," the vocator replied.

"We need to investigate an incident of treason."

The vocator's eyes opened a bit wider.  "What did you uncover?"

"We intercepted another courier, sir.  His information came directly from the royal court."

Vocator Schultz scowled.  "I'm not going to call it leave, I'm putting you on temporary duty attached to the security division.  How long do you expect this to take?"

"Probably only a day or two, sir.  The number of suspects is extremely limited."

The vocator nodded.  "Well, get on it.  Report back when you've finished."

"Yes, sir!"

As David and Vivian approached the palace entrance, they both donned their Rimohr badges.  They had already put the security division's standard red shoulder marks on their uniforms.

As they approached the doors, the guards, seeing the shoulder marks, came to attention.  The security division was not exactly feared, but they weren't messed with, either.

"Are you here to see the king, sir?" the one guard asked.

"Is he actually here?" David asked in surprise.  He had expected the king to still be in Cormatsen.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I don't need to see him right now.  I may need to see him at some point, but right now, I'm here to conduct an investigation."

"Yes, sir," the guard said, and then held the door open for the two of them.

"That was easier than anticipated," Vivian said.  "I figured we'd have to pull Rimohr rank on them."

"If the security division shows up someplace, it's best to cooperate.  They have a tendency to arrest you for obstruction.  And in this case, obstruction can simply mean not answering their questions."

Vivian nodded, and David led off down a hallway.  He went to the only scribe's office he knew the location of.

Entering, he called out, "Master Elderwok?"

"Yes?" a voice called from behind three piles of books that were taller than David.

"We need to speak to you, sir," David said formally.

Master Elderwok peered out from behind the books, and then quickly straightened up and came forward.

"What can I do for you, officers?"

"I need you to gather together all of the scribes that have had anything to do with your search for more information regarding the portals."

"There have only been three of us."

"Please call the other two here, if you would."

"Of course."

Elderwok went to grab his mirror and call his associates.  It didn't take long before the other two arrived.

"This is Flynn Charbonneau, and Legat Hawke.  They have been assisting me."

David levitated three chairs to the middle of the room.

"Sit," he ordered.

"By what authority do you address us in this manner?" Legat Hawke asked formally.

"We are Rimohr officers, and we are also on temporary duty with the security division.  We are here on a very serious matter, and it would do you well to cooperate.  I'm in no mood to play games with any of you."

At that pronouncement, all three of them sat down in their chairs.  Vivian stepped back to let David take the lead on this interrogation.

He first stepped up to Master Elderwok.  "You were in charge of the research effort, correct?"

"Yes, Vigax.  You know this."

"Did you choose these two men, or were they assigned to you?"

"I asked for volunteers.  These were the two that offered."

David nodded.  "Have you worked with them before?"

"Legat, yes, I've worked with him several times.  Flynn normally doesn't work in the research areas."

"I see.  What is your normal area of work, then?" David asked Flynn.

"You've seen me before, Vigax," he said.

"That is not an answer to my question," David replied.

Flynn said, "I am a transcriptionist.  I keep the record of what is said in official proceedings."

"Why did you choose to jump into this task?"

"Nobody else was offering."

"Is that true?" David asked Master Elderwok.

"As I recall, he offered rather quickly.  No one else offered after him, however."

David nodded.

"When was the last time you left the palace?" David asked Elderwok.

"It would have been my meeting with you and the king."

"You've not been home since?" David demanded.

"I live in the palace.  All of us do."

David nodded.  Turning to Legat Hawke, David asked, "When were you last out of the palace?"

"Last week."

"For?"

"To see my girlfriend."

"Her name?"

"Tala Winde."  He volunteered her address.

Turning to Flynn, David asked the same question.

"I don't know what day it was.  It's been a few days.  They all kind of blend together lately."

"Where did you go?"

"To a play.  I needed to unwind a little."

"Did you go with anyone?"

"No."

"Not your wife?"

"What makes you think I'm married?"

"Because I've met your daughter."

Flynn nodded.  "My wife and I are divorced, and have been for three years.  No, my wife was not with me.  The only people who would have seen me would have been the theater workers."

David nodded.

"Who have you discussed this research with?" David asked.

"No one!" Flynn asserted.

"No one?  You've not talked it over with Mr. Hawke or Master Elderwok?"

Flynn sputtered.  "Well, yes, I mean, obviously them!"

"Then why did you say no one?  They are people, you talked to them.  I don't like being lied to, Mr. Charbonneau."

"I'm not lying!  I just didn't think you meant to include them!"

"Uh-huh.  And you, Mr. Hawke?"

"Beyond our initial conversation when I agreed to help, I haven't mentioned it to anyone.  Including the two of them.  I've been rather absorbed in my reading."

"You said nothing to Miss Winde?"

"We... uh... we didn't do a lot of talking," Legat admitted, blushing.

"I see.  And when you were... resting?"

"I fell asleep after," Legat said.  "By the time I woke the next morning, she had already gone to work.  No, I never mentioned it to her.  She wouldn't have been interested if I'd tried.  She's not got much interest in such scribal activities."

David nodded neutrally.  "And Master Elderwok?  Who have you discussed this with?"

"Flynn, a few times.  I communicated with the king on our progress either once or twice, I'm not sure... and Derek once."

"Who is Derek?"

"The page who assists me."

"Send for him."

Elderwok nodded.

"You're going to interrogate a child?" Flynn asked, aghast.

"To get to the bottom of this, I will interrogate everyone in this palace, including the king himself, if necessary."  This was hyperbole, of course.  He had no authority to investigate the royal family without a warrant from the Council of Wizards.

The page arrived quickly, and David scooted over another chair, next to Master Elderwok.

"Sit," David ordered.  The boy sat down, wide-eyed and fearful.

"Master Elderwok tells me that he discussed his research project with you."

"Yes, sir.  He had to.  He was asking me to retrieve things from the archives, and he had to tell me what I was looking for."

David nodded.  "Did you tell anyone else?"

"No sir.  I don't talk to anyone outside the palace... and honestly, no one inside the palace talks to me much, either."

"Why is that?" David asked.

Derek shrugged.

Master Elderwok said, "Derek accidentally caused several staff members a significant amount of work a few years ago.  Since then, the entire staff has chosen to ostracize him."

David growled lowly.  "People are stupid."  Turning back to Derek, he asked, "Did you ever see anyone else looking through the archives?"

"No one that isn't normally looking through them... well, except Mr. Charbonneau.  He's not usually down there.  But I figure he was just lookin' stuff up for Master Elderwok."

"Care to comment?" David asked Flynn.

"Can't do research without looking at documents," Flynn pointed out.

"This is true."

David pulled out four sheets of paper.  He handed one to each of his interviewees.  He grabbed InkyQuills from a nearby desk, and passed those out as well.

"I want you to write down, to the best of your knowledge, everything that has been discovered about the portals, from the research done here.  Not just things you yourself have learned directly, but anything anyone has discovered that you know about."

"What's with the essay questions?" Legat asked.

"Just do what you're told, Mr. Hawke," Vivian responded.  "Now is not the time to get resistant."

Mr. Hawke grunted, and then turned to his parchment.

In only a few moments, they were all finished.  David collected the papers.  He started with Master Elderwok's paper, which was fairly full.  He then looked at Derek's paper.  It contained most of the things that Master Elderwok's page had contained.  Legat Hawke's page contained only three items, none found on Master Elderwok's sheet.

When David looked at Flynn's page, he cocked his head.  "When was the last time you spoke to Master Elderwok concerning this project?" he asked Flynn.

"Yesterday."

David nodded.  "Is that correct?" he asked Master Elderwok.

"Yes."

"And did you bring him up to date on the research?"

"Of course.  No point in duplicating effort."

David nodded.  "So why, Mr. Charbonneau, does your list not even come close to matching Master Elderwok's list?"

Flynn shrugged.  "I guess I forgot stuff."

"Forgot?" David snapped.  "Forgot two-thirds of what you knew about a subject?  In under a day?"

Flynn opened his mouth, but had no words.  He just shrugged again and shook his head.

"What, exactly, is this about, officer?" Legat Hawke asked.

"Earlier this week, a Vrudenan courier was intercepted.  That courier was carrying information from one of you four, concerning the portals."

"How do you know it was one of us?" Master Elderwok asked.

"It mentioned the royal scribes directly as the source of the information.  It used only a codename for the person in question, which means that this person has been feeding information for a while."

David turned to Flynn.  "What I find curious, Mr. Charbonneau, is that the information in the courier's possession is exactly the information you failed to include on your list here."

"I didn't know those things earlier this week!  I only learned of them yesterday!"

"Why did you exclude them from your list?  And please don't insult me with that 'you forgot' bullshit again."

"I... I thought you only wanted stuff I'd learned myself," Flynn tried.

"I specifically said otherwise," David replied.

"Vigax?  May I see Flynn's list?" Master Elderwok asked.

David handed it over.

"Flynn, why are you lying?" Master Elderwok asked suddenly.  "Four of the things you have left off your list, you told me about!"

"That's a lie!" Flynn shouted.

"Enough.  Vivian?"

"I'm convinced enough."

David nodded.  "We have a confirmed primary suspect.  Mr. Charbonneau, you will submit to a truth potion within the hour."

"You can't make me without a magistrate's order!"

"Mr. Charbonneau, you should have paid better attention in Civics class.  This is an investigation for treason, a national security matter, not a criminal investigation.  With the agreement of at least two investigating officers, we can compel truth potion use without a magistrate.  You three may go about your business.  Do not leave the palace until this matter is resolved.  Doing so will get you arrested and imprisoned."

 David entered the conference room unannounced, dragging Flynn along with him.  David saw two arkigos going over something with the king and queen.  Christa was sitting off to one side, observing, two guards stood impassively on either side of the room...

And three ghosts were present.

"What the hell is this?" one of the arkigos demanded.

David ignored him for the moment.  "Your Majesty... you're aware that there are ghosts present?  Come to that, how did I even make it into the palace?"

"The ghosts you sense, Paladin, are a result of your suggestion for security."

David looked at him curiously.

"Do you not recall suggesting we recruit some ghosts to work with us?"

David closed his eyes and shook his head.  "I made that suggestion three months ago, Your Majesty.  I had assumed it had been rejected."

"It took us three months to find enough ghosts to make it workable," the king explained.  "This way, however, Lord Woodward can report to us what he has found.  Without you as an intermediary, we had to find some other workaround."

David nodded in understanding.

"Your Majesty, really," the arkigo objected.  "Is this important?"

"I don't know yet.  He hasn't told us why he's here," the king replied.  "David?"

"Well, you decide if it's important, Your Majesty.  This bastard has been feeding information to the Vrudenans."  David shoved him forward, and Flynn nearly stumbled.

The king went ghostly white.  "Are you sure?  He's heard... he's heard nearly everything!"

"We have already put him through a truth potion, Your Majesty.  There is no doubt of his guilt.  The three other traitors that he has revealed are being watched by the security division.  They will be arrested and brought before you when it is felt that all information that can be gleaned from them, has been."

"Very good."  The king looked to Flynn.  "Why?" he demanded.

Flynn remained silent.

"Money, Your Majesty," David explained.  "They were paying him quite a bit of money."

"How did you learn of this?" the king asked.

"While on a mission, I intercepted another Vrudenan courier.  They had information that could only come from the royal court.  Information regarding that... special matter you had Master Elderwok looking into."

The king's mouth set into a frown.  "What do you have to say for yourself?" he demanded of Flynn.

Flynn remained silent.

The king glowered.  "Fine.  You are guilty of treason.  The punishment is execution."

"Your Majesty, we don't have a qualified executioner anymore," the arkigo objected.

"That's not a problem, Arkigo.  When do you want the execution performed, Your Majesty?" David asked.

"How soon will you be prepared to do it?"

"As soon as Lady Aberlin leaves the room."

The king raised an eyebrow, but Christa objected.  "I'm an adult!  Why do I have to leave?"

David turned to look at her.  "Because you don't need to see this part of my work... or this part of my soul.  You don't need the nightmares."  Turning to the queen, David said, "You might wish to step out for a moment, as well, Your Majesty."

"Come, Christa.  He's right; you don't need to witness this."

As the ladies were leaving, one of the arkigos said, "You're going to make a hell of a mess if you do it in here."

"I don't intend to spill a single drop of blood," David said.  Once the door closed behind the women, he turned to the traitor.

"Do you have any final words?  Any message for your daughter, or your ex-wife?"

Flynn remained silent.

"Whatever."

David suddenly ghosted himself.  He remained visible, however.  This, finally, broke Flynn's stoicism.

"What are you going to do?"

"Certainly you're not that stupid.  I'm going to kill you," David said coldly.  With that, he reached forward, his hand slipping inside Flynn's chest.  He wrapped his hand around Flynn's heart.  He could feel it pulsing, contracting to pump the blood throughout Flynn's body.

Flynn tried to grab David's arm to pull it out of him, but his hand passed right through.

"Any official pronouncement you wish to make before sentence is carried out, Your Majesty?" David asked formally.

"Be done with it, Paladin," the king said, a little disconcerted about what he was soon going to witness.

"Yes, Your Majesty.  Flynn Charbonneau, for the crime of treason against the Kingdom of Callamandia and its people, you have been sentenced to death."

With that, David slowly began to close his fingers around Flynn's heart.  As soon as he started to exert pressure, he could feel the muscle's spasms becoming irregular.  Flynn gasped in pain, but David merely stared into his eyes.

"I really wish there were a hell for you to go to," David told him darkly.  Flynn was grasping his chest in pain as David's fingers inexorably squeezed tighter and tighter.  Finally, the muscle had withstood all of the compression it could handle, and it split apart in David's hand.  Flynn screamed his last breath and went limp.

As David extracted his hand from Flynn's chest, the body slumped to the floor.  David then zapped the body with a disintegration hex, so that no one would have to deal with the remains.  At that point, he returned to solid form.

"That was rather gruesome, David," the king said.  "You could have simply disintegrated him in the first place.  Why the... more personal touch?"

"Punishment, Your Majesty."

"You don't think death was a punishment?"

"I don't think it was enough punishment, sir.  We both know that what comes after death is... boring, but not really tormenting.  If I could banish him to the interior of a mortessor, I would do so.  I don't know where the mortessor is, so this was the best punishment I could manage."

The king nodded in concerned understanding.  "You said the courier had information from Flynn concerning the portals?"

"Worse than that, Your Majesty.  His information was specifically concerning the OmniPortal."

"Shit," the head arkigo breathed.  "Oh, sorry, Your Majesty," he apologized, blushing in embarrassment.

"Sounded about right to me, actually," the king said.  "You've made no further progress on finding the OmniPortal?" he asked David.

"I haven't had the time to try, Your Majesty."

The king nodded.  "Very well.  Was there more you needed from us?"

"No, sir.  The other scribes have also been put through a security truth potion.  They are all clean.  That would include Derek, the page who has been assisting them."

"Was that legal?" the arkigo wondered aloud.

"They had the option to refuse.  That would have been placed in their record.  None of them did.  On a personal note, Your Majesty, the page, Derek, could use some personal attention from on high... perhaps the queen."

"How so?" the king asked.

"He's being mistreated by the staff for a mistake he made years ago.  The mistake was fairly severe, but he was only eight at the time.  Seems to me that adults should be a bit more... adult... in their behavior toward children."

"What is it he did?"

"Knocked over a potion sitting on a table.  The effects of the potion caused all sorts of chaos in the palace, requiring two days of cleaning and repair."

"Oh, yes.  I remember the incident.  They're still ragging on him for that?"

David tried to overlook the idea of his king using the phrase 'ragging on', in order to answer the question.  "Worse than that, sir.  They have basically shunned him.  He gets the worst possible jobs, except when he's working for one of the scribes or you personally.  Master Elderwok has taken it upon himself to only use Derek as an assistant, so that the boy can at least get some decent treatment from someone."

"Good for him.  I will have the matter looked into."

"Why do you care, Vigax?" the junior arkigo wanted to know.

David fixed him with his gaze.  "I'm a demighost.  I get shunned for shit that others have done.  I know what it feels like.  It's not pleasant, and it's also not right."  Turning back to the king, he said, "By your leave, Majesty."

"You are dismissed."

 "The battle is only an hour away.  We don't have time to sabotage the cannon," Vivian objected.

"We couldn't do it the way we did it the last two times, anyway," David said.  "Take a look."

David handed over the binoculars, and Vivian looked through them.  There were not just guards, but technicians surrounding the cannon.  Clearly it would be inspected before it was used.

"Well, shit... how are we going to do anything at all, then?" Vivian wondered aloud.

"Well, we're not.  But I'm going to go find a good tall tree."

"Then what?" she asked.

"Then hope like hell my conjuring skills aren't too rusty.  Vivian, I want you on outer guard.  Giendia, once I find my spot, I'll want you nearby, but put me between yourself and the cannon."

"Can I ask why, sir?" she queried.

"To catch me."

"Sir?"

David grinned.  "You've seen what these explosions are like.  Yes, we were able to stay on our feet for the second one, because we were ready for it, but I'm going to be up in a tree.  There's a good chance I'm gonna get blown right out of it.  I'd prefer a soft landing to a hard one."

Giendia nodded.  With that, the three of them moved off.

"Jailla, see if you can go look in the mouth of the cannon, to see if they've done anything weird.  Don't get too close; I don't want them getting suspicious."

Jailla bobbed his head and flew off.  David could immediately see through his eyes, even though he wasn't yet close to the cannon.  By the time David found a tree big enough for his purposes, Jailla had gotten to a point where he was flying straight at the mouth of the cannon, which was clearly the same as usual, without any new covers or internal installations.

"Okay, come on back," David said to Jailla.  Jailla gave two long blinks to acknowledge, and then turned to head back.

"Now what?" Giendia asked.

"Yay!" David said.

Giendia looked at him, puzzled.

"Your question didn't end with the word 'sir'!" David said with a grin.  Giendia blushed crimson.

"To answer your question, we're waiting for the 10th Battalion to arrive.  When they get within hearing range, I'll get up the tree.  Do keep your eyes open for Vrudenan patrols."

"Yes, sir," Giendia said with a grin.  David rolled his eyes at her as she moved off a couple dozen yards.

Once the werewolves started to move around in preparation for the coming battle, David started climbing the tree.  He had to get up pretty high, because he wanted a line of sight into the cannon, and it would be aimed fairly steeply.  Once he found his perch, he could do little more than wait.

Once the battle was underway, David kept an eye out for any possible targets of opportunity.  He had a good overview of the entire battle from his treetop position, and he had a clear shot into the Vrudenan camp.  Unfortunately, the commander of this unit was much smarter than the first one, and wasn't showing himself.

It didn't matter, however.  Vrudenan tactics called for the use of the cannon once the battle lines had stabilized.  Since the Callamandians weren't pushing that hard, it didn't take long for the battle to reach a draw.  David saw a technician crawl into the cannon barrel as they started to move the weapon out of the security area.

Surely he's not going to stay in there... he'd be vaporized by the shot...

David didn't need to worry.  The were was clearly just giving the weapon a final check to make sure it was ready for firing.  In a minute, the were climbed back out of the cannon, and it was moved into position.

Reaching into his coat, David pulled out another of the modified control crystals.  He turned it in his hand so that it was oriented the way he would want to insert it into the cannon.  This wasn't, strictly speaking, necessary, but it made the conjure easier, and given the distance and the speed with which he would have to do this, anything to make it easier was a good thing.

The Vrudenans started to raise the cannon, and as soon as David had a sight line all the way to the back of the cannon, he set to work.  He had to do this rapidly.  If the Vrudenans tried to use the cannon, and it did nothing at all, they would know that sabotage had happened.  That meant David had to do a swap-conjure: he had to conjure both crystals at the same time, so that the period where there was no crystal in the cannon was minuscule.

Concentrating hard, it took David a good forty-five seconds to manage the conjure.  Finally, however, he was sitting in the tree with the original control crystal in his hand.  He slipped that into a pocket, then turned his eyes back to the cannon.

The weapon was in position now, and it was clearly prepared to fire.  It was hard for David to see the artillery soldier from his current position, but he got a surprise when he saw the flash of the ignition spell by looking down the barrel of the cannon.  In fact, he had a spectacular view from this vantage point.  He saw the energy split into twelve parts, and flash out to the amplifier crystals.  They accepted the energy, and then the glow within them built up slightly before they sent the energy back to the control crystal.  Over and over this process went, and the light inside the cannon grew brighter each time.

Soon the light was so intense that David could not look at it.  It was worse than staring into the sun, or even an arc welder.  The Vrudenans knew by now that something was wrong, but trying to run away would be futile; they weren't even sure which was a safe direction to run.

Finally, the amplifier crystals shattered, and the energy they contained blasted outward.  First the cannon, then the entire encampment, was engulfed in the white-hot fire of damnation.  David clung to his treetop perch, but it wasn't nearly enough.  The treetop he was sitting in snapped completely off, throwing him backward with no hope of even controlling his fall.

When David stopped suddenly, it was not against the hard surface of the ground, but instead the soft, yielding surface of Giendia's chest.  She wrapped her arms tightly around him to keep him from slipping out of her grasp.

David turned himself slightly in her embrace, and then he leaned in and kissed her.  She kissed back passionately.  Feeling a bit naughty, David reached out and fondled Giendia's breast, squeezing it tenderly as they kissed.

Eventually they were interrupted by a cough.

"You two do know there's a battle going on?" Vivian said.

David looked over Giendia's shoulder.  "Yes, and my tongue was winning until you interrupted!"

Vivian couldn't help herself; she laughed.

As Giendia gently let David down to the ground, they all heard a familiar shriek.  They didn't bother to look up, but instead just waited for the sound to stop, then looked around for the falconswift.  Once David spotted it, he went over and retrieved the message.  He didn't even have time to thank the bird.  David wondered if they just hated sitting still, or if they were all antisocial.

"What's it say?" Vivian asked.

"I've been ordered to HQ," David said in bewilderment.

"How will we get there?" she wondered.

"No, that's just it.  We haven't been ordered.  I've been ordered.  It specifically says for 'Troop 12' to return to ANFCC-East."

"Did you sleep with the base commander's daughter?" Vivian asked.

David snorted.  "No.  Maybe this is about that courier, or something.  Hell, who knows.  They're sending a separate transport for me.  Let's head out to where the original one is waiting, and you guys can head off."

"Come in!" the voice called from within Vocator Schultz's office.  The voice did not belong to Vocator Schultz.

David opened the door to find four officers inside.  He closed the door, stepped in front of them, and came to attention.

"Vigax David Stroud, reporting as ordered, sirs!"

"At ease, Vigax," one of them said.

David slipped to a more relaxed posture, then looked at the officers before him.  The only one he knew was Batalisto DeSantis, his CO.  Another of them was a commandant.  The other two were actually bandadors.

DeSantis said, "Vigax, having reviewed your file, and after consultation with the high command, you are hereby promoted to the rank of vocator."

"Holy... er, um, I mean thank you, sir!" David said.  The commandant was the only one who actually chuckled, though the others seemed to be suppressing one.

"You will, of course, be changing jobs slightly," DeSantis went on.  "You will now be the charge officer for Scout Company 1."

"Sir?  Isn't that Vocator Schultz's job?"  The charge officer was responsible for doling out assignments, among other duties.

"Batalisto Schultz has been reassigned to Ark North HQ staff duty."

"Yes, sir."

"Bandadors Wopat and Schneider are your clerks.  They'll do most of the paperwork.  There will be a lot of paperwork you'll have to oversee, sign, and sometimes dictate."

"Yes, sir."

"Of course, your primary job is to take the task list and assign the appropriate troop to each task.  You'll need to learn the strengths and personalities of each troop.  It's all in their files."

"Yes, sir.  Who will be taking over Troop 12?"

"No one.  Troop 12 will be pulled out of the normal rotation.  They are being reassigned as Troop 42, which is traditionally the CO's personal troubleshooting team.  Because you have additional duties given to you from the king, it was felt you might have need of your troopmates.  I may still ask you to handle touchy jobs from time to time, as you three were pretty much our best unit for covert operations."

"Thank you, sir."

"You'll also be getting a personal assistant, to help with that extra work from the king.  This is why you didn't get one earlier."

David nodded.

"One last thing that you'll have to oversee, but you'll hopefully only have to do this once."

"Sir?"

"Now that the shape of the war has become more apparent, we're going to move company HQ closer to the front.  We don't yet have a definite location.  We are currently considering Agnidence."

"Is Winding River too close to the fighting, sir?  Seems to me if you colocate HQ with ANFCC-East, communications are more secure, and there's one less comm portal to worry about."

"Can the base there handle the facilities for HQ?"

"There's enough room, if that's what you mean.  There are no buildings.  We had to erect what we're using for the comm center.  But you'd have to do the same thing in Agnidence, wouldn't you, sir?"

"No.  In Agnidence, there are some buildings we can commandeer."

"He has a good thought, though, Ron, about colocating the two facilities," the commandant said to Btlt. DeSantis.  "Maybe move ANFCC-East to Agnidence, as well?"

"It would disrupt communications," DeSantis complained.

"Not for very long, sir," David said.  "Take one of the spare sets from Winding River to Agnidence.  Once you have those set up to operate, you tell the other comm centers to switch over to the new set.  They each only have to change out just one portal, so it's no big deal for them.  Once that's done and everything's verified as working, you can pull down the Winding River facility as quickly or as slowly as you want."

DeSantis was nodding during David's explanation.  "Yes, that will work perfectly.  And I do like the idea of joining the two facilities.  It gives greater protection to the comm center, given the number of security troops here at HQ."

"Since I'll assume it's not me, who's in charge of security here?"

"Vigax Dorn is in charge of the security force."

David nodded.

"Be aware, David, that you'll be acting base commander most of the time.  I don't spend a lot of time here.  I'm usually down at Ark North HQ working on plans with the arkigos."

"Wait, what?  You're telling me I'm second in command of this circus?"

"That's right.  Welcome to management."

"Aw, hell," David said with a smirk.

"I'll leave you to get things started.  Wopat and Schneider have the information about the facility in Agnidence.  Get HQ moved up there first.  Then move ANFCC-East.  Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"The commandant has some other, top secret stuff to discuss with you.  We'll leave you two to work on that."

The two bandadors snapped to attention and saluted David.  David saluted in return, then said, "Dismissed.  Uh, oh, sorry, Commandant, I guess that's-"

The commandant waved him off.  "I'm not part of this chain of command."

David nodded to the bandadors and they left the office.  David turned back to the commandant.

"You wanted to discuss the portals, I presume," David said.

"Yes.  I'm going to give you everything we've come up with so far.  It's not a lot, as we're only working from the information in the records.  I'm told you have additional resources?"

"Yes.  I'll have to visit Gorumshead to retrieve them."

"Well, you'll be up in that area, anyway.  We are turning this project entirely over to you.  If you need a specialist of some kind, let us know, and we'll get you one, but we really can't go further with what we have.

"So, let's sit down and go over it."

 David spent the next twenty-four hours moving the headquarters from its old location - about two-thirds the way from Winding River to Cormatsen, - to its new home in Agnidence, which was well back from the battle lines, and also closer to Bolmont, which David didn't object to at all.  Getting home every once in a while would be easier now.

The move of HQ had been handled so rapidly because Transport Company 10 had specialists in packing and moving materials quickly.  David had left his bandadors to get things set up as he'd instructed, but he accompanied TC10 up to Winding River, to start the move of that unit.

Once David arrived at the facility, he amplified his voice and called together the entire unit.

"All ANFCC personnel, please gather in the dining hall.  All personnel, please.  This includes the communications staff.  Repeat, all personnel to the dining hall."

David waited until it appeared as though everyone had made it into the dining hall before he entered himself.

One of the soldiers, sitting near the door, saw him enter, and saw his new rank insignia.  He jumped to his feet and shouted, "Company, Atten-HUT!"

Everyone in the dining hall snapped to their feet and stood at attention.  David tried not to growl at the soldier.  He knew he'd have to get used to it now.

Just another reason to hate this job...

"All right, be seated."  David waited for them all to settle in.  "I've called this meeting to announce some changes to our operation.  As is apparently quite obvious, I've been promoted.  I am the new charge officer for Scout Company 1.  That is effective as of yesterday.

"As of this morning, Scout Company 1 headquarters has been relocated to Agnidence, in order to be closer to the front lines, to allow for a bit more flexibility for the company to react to Vrudenan efforts.

"And, starting in five minutes, you are all directed to get your gear packed and ready to travel.  Transport Company 10 is waiting outside.  ANFCC-East is also moving to Agnidence.  It will be folded into HQ, for better communications security and physical security.

"Liderra Miller, I'll need your best comm specialists to load one of the spare sets onto a coach.  For now, you'll leave a second team here, with the currently operational gear.  Once the changeover is made, the team left here will be transported with their sets.  Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the liderra confirmed.

"Any questions?" David asked the group.

"What happened to Vocator Schultz?" Jack asked.

"He's been promoted to batalisto and moved to Ark North HQ.  Doing what, I have no idea.  Anything else?"  There wasn't anything.  "Okay.  Let's get this show on the road, then.  The transport company will help you pack your things.  I expect us to be back on the road in less than an hour.  Dismissed."

With that, the entire room burst into motion.  The soldiers left the hall at a trot to go assemble their gear.

Vivian, who had no serious amount of stuff to pack, and Giendia, who had almost nothing to pack, stepped over to talk to David.

"You just can't help yourself with these promotions, can you?" Vivian said, needling him.

"Keep it up, and I'll put you in for one," David growled.  Vivian chuckled.

"Will someone new be our troop leader now?  ... Sir?" Giendia said, needling David in a different way.

David growled at her good-naturedly.  "No.  Troop 12 is being dissolved, sort of.  You two will be stationed semi-permanently at HQ as part of Troop 42.  When you do go into the field, I will still be your troop leader.  Troop 42 is apparently the batalisto's own personal sword to wield, so we will probably be getting the difficult jobs."

"What were we getting before?" Vivian demanded.

David snorted.  "Oh, I did ask Btlt. DeSantis to send us on a four-hundred-mile hike, just for you."

It was Vivian's turn to growl.

"Look at the bright side.  You two will probably be seeing less combat duty now."

"You mean we're going to be bored most of the time," Vivian said.

"Bored and safe is just fine with me when it comes to you two," David said bluntly.  "Now, we'd best go pack up our stuff.  I'd hate to be the one holding up the train."

 "This is really my responsibility now?" David asked Bandador Wopat.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"But I don't give a shit what we have for lunch, as long as it's not chipped beef on toast," he said.

She smiled at him.  "You can just approve the previous menu, if you want..."

"That works.  No idea what the previous menu was... and absolutely no idea what I'd change it to."

The bandador checked a box on the form she was holding, then slid it across the desk for him to sign.  As he did, he asked, "Is all this administrative crap really my job, or am I doing Btlt. DeSantis' job, too?"

"Well, you are, but this particular one really is the charge officer's responsibility."

David grunted.  Just then, a soldier showed up in the doorway.

"Swift for you, sir," he said, then handed over the message as Bandador Wopat returned to the outer office.  David took it and read it, then let out a low growl of irritation.  He rose from his desk to step out into the outer office, where the bandadors were doing the inscrutable things they did.

"Toni, who's third in command?"

"In your absence, the security chief would make any emergency decisions, but all other items will simply wait until you return.  Are you going off-base, sir?"

"I-Squad has sent me another job to do," David said with a sigh.

"Yes, sir.  Before you go, sir, your new assistant has arrived, and is waiting for you across the hall."

"Okay, thanks.  Could you get Vigax Dorn up here so I can talk to him?"

"Certainly."

David nodded, then stepped back into his office to grab the notes concerning the portals.  That done, he walked across the hall to the conference room.  As he closed the door, the officer waiting there turned to face him.

"Ginger!" David said in surprise.

"Vocator," she said with a smile.

"I'm surprised to see you here.  I mean, I did mention your name when the king considered giving me an assistant, but I figured that had been ignored."

"I guess not.  Thank you, by the way, for getting me away from The Weasel."

"Yeah, too bad I can't get me away from him.  I've got yet another case from I-Squad to take care of."

"You want me to back you up?"

"No, I'll take my Rimohr partner with me for this.  What I need you to do is go over the material in these notes.  I'll be giving you more information later, when I've retrieved my own notes, but that will take a couple days.  Probably longer, what with this stupid case.

"Now, I know I don't need to say this, but I'm going to.  This is beyond top secret stuff.  You don't talk about this shit with anyone other than me.  That means not even the bandadors in my office.  No one who works here in HQ needs to know about this stuff.  Should an officer from Ark North or whatever ask you about it, refer them to me.  Do not answer them.  Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good.  Now I want that to be the last time you call me sir, too.  We were vigaxes together.  No need to get all formal about it now."

Ginger smiled.  "Okay, I can manage that."

"Good.  You can work in here for now.  I'll tell them to get you an office set up so you can have some privacy."

"Thanks.  Good luck on your case."

David just grunted at that, and went back to his own office.  A tall, black officer was waiting there for him.  The man was strongly built, and looked rather stern.

To Toni, David said, "See if you can find Vigax Herminy an office, would you?  She'll be working in the conference room until you do."

"Yes, sir.  This is Vigax Dorn."

"I had a feeling," David said.  He shook the man's hand.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Dorn asked.

"I've been asked to go handle an investigation, so I'll be gone for a day or two.  That leaves you in charge of the base."

"Yes, sir.  Any known issues likely to crop up?"

"No, just teething problems, with the new location."

"I'll leave those for you to pass judgment on, sir.  Any threats coming our way?"

"I doubt it.  We're a good long way from the fighting."

Dorn nodded.

"Anyway, hopefully I'll be back soon.  If not, I'll send word."

"Yes, sir!" Dorn said.

David nodded to him, said good-bye to the two bandadors, then headed out of the office.

Dorn relaxed once David was out of sight.  "Seems decent enough," he said to Toni.  "Does he have any idea what he's doing?"

"Did you, your first day on the job?" Toni asked, defending her superior, who she had already decided she was going to like.

Dorn grunted, then left the office to go back to his own.

"My god, what a mess," Vivian said in distaste.  They were standing at the edge of a battlefield.  A few Vrudenan bodies were scattered, but the field was riddled with human corpses.

"What the hell," David breathed.  "Something looks wrong here.  This wasn't a clearing."

"Huh?"

"Look.  Tree stumps. And the trees that were attached to them.  This area looks like a fucking bomb went off.  But not like the cannons, this looks like a real bomb.  Let's see what we can find."

"Ugh," Vivian said.  They had left Giendia back at base for this, as an addition to the security of the headquarters.

David moved into the battlefield, and focused first on the ground.  Everywhere he looked, he saw blast damage, but something didn't look right.

Finally it hit him.

"No fire," he said.

"What?" Vivian asked.

"There's been no fire here.  No scorching, nothing burned.  A bunch of things blown down, thrown around, but nothing was incinerated.  If this had been a bomb, there would be some sign of fire."

Vivian nodded.  "Maybe the bomb was exploded high up in the air?" she suggested.  "Too high for fire, but enough for the shockwave."

David cocked his head in thought.  "Maybe, but why do it?  The fire can be useful as part of the weapon.  Also, still no shrapnel.  If it was a bomb, what was it encased in?  A metal casing would leave shrapnel.  Even a wood box would have left splinters in some of the bodies.  But these all look... well, you know, they don't look right, either."

David leaned over one of the bodies, and he started to roll it onto its side.  The body immediately deformed, and he jumped back.  As it settled onto its back again, he saw it jiggle.

"Uh... what the fuck?" he said to himself.  Turning away from the body, David once again started looking at the ground effect of the weapon, whatever it was.

"What're you looking for now?"

"The blast center," David told her.  "So far, everything has been blown in this direction."  David moved to the edge of the field, and the effect suddenly ended.  All the debris from the weapon was blown away from this point in only one direction.

"Well... this was no bomb I know about."

"Doesn't the earth military use some kind of special explosive in their tank rounds?  Something that forces the explosion to go in only one direction?"

David nodded.  "A shaped charge.  But this would be one massive shaped charge... and again, there's no sign of an explosion, just a whole bunch of blast damage.  Like a big monster came through and knocked everything down."

"Is that a possibility?  I mean, we are in a land where giants exist..."

"No footprints," David said, motioning with his hands.  "No, I imagine this was a what, not a who."

"Okay... but what is the what?"

"Damned if I know.  We need to take one of the corpses to an examiner."

"Might be nice to see Jordan again..."

David snorted.  "She is the closest one," he finally said in agreement.

"So what have we got here?" David asked Jordan, the magical examiner for the Bolmont Division of the Rimohrs.

"You have a liquefied body," she said.

"Come again?  It looks pretty solid to me..."

"Oh, sure, on the outside.  But everything inside of it has been turned to mush."

"Hex?"

"Possibly, but I don't think so.  You said the body was lying in an area of blast damage?"

"Yes."

"If the blast was strong enough, the shockwave close enough, then it could conceivably have done this sort of thing."

"You're telling me a bomb can kill you without puncturing you?" Vivian asked.

"Exactly.  It ruptures internal organs, you basically bleed to death.  But this was even worse than a normal bomb.  These organs aren't just ruptured, they're completely unrecognizable as organs.  The inside of this poor guy is soup."

Vivian looked a little green.  David grunted.

"So... what the hell could do this?  A blast that goes in only one direction speaks of a gun of some kind, rather than a bomb... but... a blast gun?  How would you even do that?"

"I don't know," Jordan said.  "That's beyond my training.  Do you need to see more?"

"No."

Jordan covered the body again, and slid it into the storage cabinet which, much like a food cabinet, would keep the body from any kind of decay.  As she closed the door to the cabinet, it let off a deep hollow noise.

David's eyes went out of focus.

"Sono plavatus!" he said suddenly.

"What?" Vivian asked.  Jordan, too, looked puzzled.

"In my second year, I learned to use a spell called sono plavatus.  It causes a surface to emit sound waves, to knock people down!  But... this... this would be sono plavatus on a massive scale.  It can't do this kind of damage... but if you amplified the effect somehow..."

"You're saying that they did all this... with sound?" Vivian asked.

"I'm saying they could have.  A... a noise cannon?  Is there such a thing?"

"If there is, I've never heard of it," Vivian said.

"Very funny," David replied.

Vivian blushed.  "No pun intended."

"Uh-huh," David replied, unconvinced.  "In any case... I've seen nothing that contradicts this idea, but there was nothing out there to confirm it, either.  All we have for evidence is a blasted-down forest, and Soupy Sales in there," he said, waving to the stored corpse.  "In any case, I feel confident saying that the Vrudenans have a new weapon of some kind, and that will have to do for now, because there just wasn't anything more to learn out there."

Vivian nodded.

David said, "Jordan, thanks.  Good to see you again."

"You too, both of you.  Be careful out there."

 "Hey, there, Stranger," Denise said as David and Vivian got out of David's glidetruck.  She had been working in one of the flowerbeds in the front yard.

David walked over to her, and she put her arms around him and gave him a soft, but lingering, kiss.  He happily returned the gesture, pulling her against him tightly.

When they finally separated, David said, "You know there are fairies who do this for me..."

"What else am I supposed to do with my day?" she asked.  "Olissa won't let me help with the housework, except as it relates to your downstairs guests, and that doesn't take long."

"Have we gotten more of those?"

"A few."

David nodded.  "Well, I'll let you get back to your flowers, then."

"Will you be staying?"

"For the rest of the day, yeah."

"Good.  I'm making dinner tonight."

"Oh?  Wonder where I can get a pizza..."  He saw the look on Denise's face and laughed, then he kissed her again.  "You know I love your cooking."

"That's better," she said with a grin.

David left Denise and led Vivian into the house.  Jailla, of course, had already flown off to investigate the grounds and say hello to Bispy and Eirwyn, who were playing in the backyard.

"Master!" Olissa said as he walked into the main room.  She ran to him and kissed him passionately.  He kissed her back for a long moment before he let her go.  "Hi, Vivian," Olissa said, almost sheepishly.  "How are things?"

"Fine, except I haven't gotten a kiss from him today..." she said.

David immediately turned and kissed her, making her blush crimson.

"Try saying it in front of the company and see what happens," David told her, and her blush deepened to purple.

Turning back to Olissa, David asked, "How is everything going here?"

"No problems so far," Olissa said seriously.  "Oh, little bumps here and there, a few arguments among the guests, but nothing we haven't been able to settle."

David nodded.  "This many people, stuck together in unfamiliar and less-than-private circumstances, little spats are bound to happen.  Any more assaults on Bispy?" David asked with a grin.

"No," Olissa replied, giggling.  "They learned fast, and the new people got educated by the old people, so no trouble there, either."

"Good.  Didn't want to try explaining to my old boss why I was having a wizard barbecue on my back lawn."

Olissa chuckled.

"Gwen and Jess at the shop today?"

"Yeah."

Looking behind him to make sure she had not come in yet, he asked, "Denise heard anything more from Roy?"

"Not that I know about," Olissa said.

David nodded.  "Well, we could both use a shower," David said, motioning to Vivian.  Turning to her, he asked, "You want to be boring, or you want to join me?"

Vivian laughed, and Olissa smiled.  

She joined him.

That evening, David was sitting in front of the fire, his arm wrapped around Denise.  Her dinner had been a wonderful change from army food.  The two were simply relaxing now.

"Since I arrived today, you've been a bit more direct with your affection," David said.  "I highly approve, but... why the change?"

Denise snuggled in closer.  "I'm supposed to be your girlfriend now, aren't I?" she said reasonably.  "I'm supposed to be highly affectionate."

"Mmm," David said as they kissed.  Breaking the contact, he said, "By the way, I don't know if she said anything to you, but Gwen did ask that we not... uh, how did she phrase it?  Oh yeah... she asked that we not 'play kissyface' in front of her."

Denise giggled.  "I kind of figured she'd object."

"Not really about objecting, as turning her stomach," David said with a grin.  "You're her mother."

"I used to kiss Roy all the time in front of her, when she was little," Denise said.

"She hasn't slept with Roy," David said with a grin.

"There is that," Denise agreed.  "I'll behave, don't worry.  I have to admit, it is very nice not to have to be sneaky about it anymore."

"Nice not to live in a hall of mirrors," David said.

"Hmm," Denise murmured, snuggling in more tightly.

David sat quietly for another few minutes, then said, "Come on, let's go to bed."

"A splendid idea," Denise enthused.

"If they won't give me any guidance, I don't know what I'm going to do," Zyla said to David as they entered the Veterans Benefits Bureau.

"One way or another, we'll get an answer out of them," David told her.  "I am actually part of the command staff for Scout Company 1 now.  I have a little bit of weight I can throw around, if necessary."

"If they'll even listen."

"Oh, they will listen," David assured her.

"David..." she started.

David just raised his hand.  "Let's worry about that if it happens, okay?  Let's just see what they've got to say."

The two waited in line quietly.  Zyla had been hoping that David would visit, as she needed his help dealing with the VBB.  She had no idea, really, how to proceed with the application.  She didn't know what David could do, but she knew that he was more adept at dealing with this sort of thing than she was.

"Yes, how can I help you?" the clerk intoned, just as disinterestedly as the first time David had met him.

"I'm here to ask for a review of my application for Fallen Heroes Benefits.  Your office rejected my application without stating a reason."

"We don't need to give you a reason.  Your application was obviously not acceptable."

"How am I supposed to fix it, if I don't know what's wrong with it?" Zyla asked quietly.

"Listen, lady, I don't have the time to go over the entire application with you."

"Perhaps," David said, controlling his temper, "if you looked up her case, to see what was flagged as unacceptable."

The man sighed in such a way that it almost came out a snarl.  "Fine."

David stepped back as the man got off his stool and went to a filing cabinet.  He looked at the name on the information sheet that Zyla had given him, then opened the file drawer.  He came back with a folder and dropped it on the desk carelessly.  He opened it, and only flicked through two pages before stopping and closing the folder.

"Your husband's military record is incomplete," he said.

"Sir, I have been assured by Scout Company 1 that they sent you his entire package."

"Ma'am, I don't give a damn if you've been assured by the king.  What matters to me is the forms in front of me."

"What is supposedly missing from his record?" David asked.

"I'm not at liberty to tell you that."

"Yes, you are," David replied.

"Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?" the man asked archly.

"No, I'm trying to tell you that I know what the law says about the matter, and you are under no restriction about telling an applicant about their case.  Now, tell the woman what she needs to know."

"And if I don't?" the clerk asked with a sneer.

David stared at the man for a long moment, and the clerk grew a little concerned as he watched a change come over David's expression.  It grew from annoyed to something much less pleasant.

"Zyla?" David said calmly, turning to her.  When she looked back at him, he gently moved her away from the counter.  She immediately recognized the rage building in David's face.

"David-" she tried.

David raised a hand to stop her.  He would not be dissuaded at this point.  He then turned back to look at the miserable bastard who was causing her grief.

"Get me your supervisor," David ordered.

"Look, sir, I don't-"

"Shut the fuck up and do as you're told," David barked in his strongest command voice. 

The man, sensing dangerous territory, got off his stool and went over to retrieve an unpleasant-looking woman.  The two of them came back to the counter.

"Yes, sir?" she asked in condescension.  Her obvious attitude of superiority, as if she were a duchess being forced to talk to a peasant, stoked David's ire further.

"Do you have a supervisor?" David asked sharply.

"Yes..." she replied.

"Go get them."

"Sir, I'm sure I-"

"I don't want to hear your bullshit.  Go get your supervisor," David snapped in a voice that warned of serious danger.  The look on his face was growing murderous.

The woman went off in a huff.  David watched her walk over to an even less-pleasant-looking gentleman.  The two came back to him.

"This is my supervisor, Admini-"

"Don't care," David interrupted her.  To the new person, he asked, "Do you have a supervisor?"

"Yes, the office administrator."

"Go get them."

The man turned. "Malfesca, could you come over here for a moment, please?"

A woman who exuded overbearing condescension out of every pore of her body walked over.

"What is it?" she demanded.

David asked, "Do you have a supervisor in this office?"

"No.  I am the head of this office."

"So let me get this straight.  You're his supervisor.  And he's her supervisor.  And she is his supervisor."  David looked around at the others in the office, who were marveling at someone who could order around these bureaucrats.  He said, "No wonder nothing gets done in this fucking place!  Everyone is busy watching someone else!"

The other applicants in the office chuckled.  The four bureaucrats before him were not amused.

"Just what is-" the office administrator started, trying to take charge of the confrontation.

"Shut up," David growled menacingly.  "When I want you to talk, I'll let you know.  What I want you to do right now is to listen, and pay attention.

"You assholes have been making this woman's life a nightmare for two months now.  Her husband, who died in the line of duty to keep jack-offs like you from being killed or turned into werewolves, was Capadra Joseph Garibaldi.  His service information has been certified by Scout Company 1 headquarters, his assigned posting.  You fuckwads have seen fit to hold up her application for benefits because you're not satisfied with the paperwork, which she didn't even create, but came straight from the Callamandian Army.  So.

"Joseph Garibaldi was an active-duty soldier at the time of his death.  I am personally certifying this to you as the charge officer for the scout company.  If that is not sufficient, perhaps you'd like me to call a few of the soldiers from Scout Company 1 up here to help me explain to you what happens when you show this level of incompetence?"

The four bureaucrats understood the threat, and looked decidedly uncomfortable.  David, however, wasn't done.  His voice rose slightly as he continued, and his look grew even darker.

"Joseph Garibaldi was also an active Rimohr Agent, at one time my training officer.  Maybe you'd like to talk to a few of our colleagues over at the Bolmont Division office?  Perhaps some of their paperwork could increase the speed of your paperwork... or get me someone less intransigent to deal with, at the very least.

"OR," David said, his voice picking up even more volume, "you can take door number three.  As I am a Royal Paladin and personally known to the king, I can just take this matter up directly with him.  I'm sure he'd be quite interested in how you pencil pushers are fucking over the families of those risking and losing their lives to protect his kingdom!"

David leaned over the counter, to get as close to his four targets as possible, his undead glare in full menace.  All of them were beginning to squirm in distress.

"Now," he said, his voice bellowing loud enough to rival Liderra Carter in full ire, "there are four piss-ant bureaucrats standing in front of me.  One of you has to have the authority to push this through, and do so right now.  If you do not do so, all four of you are going to be without a job by the end of the day.  And that may be the least unpleasant thing that happens to you!  IS THAT CLEAR?"

The vehemence of David's tirade had shocked everyone present.  There was dead silence in the room.  The bureaucrats could all see the undisguised malevolence in David's gaze.  They knew that the threat he'd just made may have been veiled, but it wasn't idle.  They all stood, rooted to the spot and unable to speak.

David waited for a count of five before he spoke again.  When he did, his voice was far more controlled, but still contained a warning of trouble if he was not satisfied, and satisfied quickly. "Now is when you're supposed to say something.  That something is, 'Yes, sir, it will be done within the next ten minutes.'"

Fifteen minutes later, Zyla's benefits package had been approved, and they were leaving the office.

"You went a little crazy in there," Zyla said worriedly.  "I mean, yeah, he was being a jerk, but he-"

"It wasn't just what he said today, Zyla.  It's the entire process.  They have sent you six separate documents telling you that you have failed to provide what they want... without telling you what they want.  They were intentionally preventing you from receiving benefits.  Why, I don't know.  I do intend on putting the inspector general on their trail as soon as I get back to the office.  This kind of shit cannot go on."

"I'd just as soon put it behind me..." Zyla said.

"And you can.  Neither of us will be involved in the IG's investigation.  But, Zyla... what about the next person?"

She stopped, and nodded.

 "If I take the glidetruck, how do you plan to get back to base?" Vivian asked.

"Cupcake will bring me down.  I have some things I need to pick up in Gorumshead.  It's classified material, so don't ask."

Vivian nodded.  "Anything you want me to tell them when I get there?"

"Just let them know I'll be in after lunch."

"Yes, sir!" she said with a smirk.

"Don't make me spank your ass," David growled.  Vivian giggled, then got into the truck.  David watched as she drove off, then he turned for the stable.

It didn't take David long to retrieve his portal notes from his personal vault at the bank, but that wasn't the only task he had to do in Gorumshead.

Walking in the Slyther Inn, he saw the person he was there to meet.  He walked over as she stood up.

"Looking spiffy!" she said.  "Vocator, already?"

"Ranks move fast on the battlefield," David replied.

"Guess so.  It's good to see you, David," Tanya said.  "Why didn't you just come up to the school?"

"The answer to that is somewhat long, and is in fact the reason I wanted to see you in the first place.  Hang on."

Turning to the barman, David asked if there was a place that he and Tanya could speak privately.

"Best I can do for you is a room.  You gonna need it for long?"

"An hour at most."

"Take room three."  As David pulled out his coin bag, the barman waved him off.  "Don't worry about it.  It's not like I'm full up or anything."

"Thanks," David said as he put his money away.  Waving to Tanya, he said, "C'mon."

The two made their way into room 3, and David shut the door.

Now that they were in private, Tanya moved over to him and put her arms around his neck, then gave him a strong kiss.  David kissed back, resting his hands on her hips.  For a long moment, they didn't move more than their tongues.  Finally, though, they had to separate.

"That was fun," David said with a grin.

"Wanted to start the conversation off on the right foot," she said with a slight blush.  "JoAnn's kisses are nice, but I'm no lesbian!"

David chuckled.  "How is she doing?"

"Fine.  We're all a little stressed, what with the war getting as close to us as it has."

David nodded.

"So, what is it you couldn't say on school grounds?"

"I just didn't want to be overheard.  I need to ask you for a favor."

"Sure, you name it."

"Don't be so quick to agree until you hear what it is," David said.

Tanya frowned, but shrugged.  "So, what is it?"

"I need you to do an investigation for me."

"Something you can't tackle yourself?" she asked.

"I'm too close to the situation, and I don't have the resources to do it, either."

"Maybe you'd better explain," she said, sinking down onto one of the beds in the room.

David sat on the bed opposite her.  "Earlier this year, I had a battle with a dark wizard.  He was trying to imprison me in the Demon Chapel, in Mirelia."

"Wow," Tanya said.

David nodded, then continued.  "During the battle, he made some accusations.  I need to find out if those accusations are true or not."

"Accusations against who?"

"Dean Lengel and the rest of the faculty.  The Minister of Education."

Tanya whistled.  "You want me to investigate Dean Lengel?"

David nodded.  "What I was told was that my entire school career was a set-up.  That I was supported throughout the years in an effort to prepare me for the battle with the dark wizard.  The battle," David said, explaining, "is a rite of passage in the wizard's family.  They have to imprison a demighost in order to become head of household."

Tanya nodded in understanding.  "So, what do you want me to find out, specifically?"

"I need to know if Dean Lengel and this dark wizard, by the name of Levi Dailey, were, in fact, working together.  I need to know if she knew him.  The Minister of Education is supposed to be in on the conspiracy as well.  What he claimed was that he had paid them off to convince them to admit me to the school, and to support me through my studies."

Tanya nodded again.  "Do you have any evidence to support his claim?"

"Only the fact that I know I have been treated differently from every other student I've seen come through the school.  I have been given very rare access to things, such as faculty housing.  I have been... well, not actually pushed into, but certainly coaxed into positions of authority within the school.  I had two apprenticeships; most students don't get even one while in school.  In general, my experience there was out of the norm."

Tanya nodded yet again.  "And you're wondering why."

"Yes.  I don't want to think that I was being raised for slaughter, so to speak.  I really thought I knew the faculty, knew Dean Lengel."

"And now?"

"Now I don't know.  I don't want to believe this, but I have a rotten track record when it comes to judging who my friends really are."

"How fast do you need me to do this?"

"Take however much time you need.  It's not like I'm going to be hanging around the school.  Like I said, I can't do this myself.  I can't be objective, and I don't have the time."

"Thank you for trusting me with it."

"Don't thank me until we see what turns up out of this," David said.  "You may want to curse me before you're done."

"I doubt that," she said.  Standing up, she stepped toward him.  "Now, you told them we'd need the room for an hour.  We've only been here for a few minutes."

"Uh-huh," David said with a smirk.

Tanya began to unbutton her blouse.  "That gives us plenty of time to do something more fun than talk."

 "I thought you were a desk puke now," Vivian said mockingly to David.  They were currently in the woods, watching another Vrudenan battalion.

"Want to walk back to base from here, do you?" David replied without taking his eyes away from the binoculars.  His tone was teasing, but also a bit weary.  He'd only been charge officer for a little over a week, and he was already resenting his office.  There was so much paperwork, so much bullshit, it was no wonder they weren't winning the war: he hadn't yet found the "victory requisition forms".

When this particular mission had come down the line, however, he knew that he and Troop 12... no, he reminded himself, now Troop 42... had to take it.  It was the very last of Vrudena's energy cannons.  He knew that it would be protected more heavily than any of the others, and since that had been his fault, he felt it was only right that he dealt with the consequences of it.

At the moment, he was perched in a tree, watching the camp start to wake up.  2nd Command's 24th Battalion was about an hour away, according to Jailla, and David was trying to figure out exactly how he would take down this last cannon.  He had another disabled control crystal, if that opportunity presented itself, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to.  The guard force around this cannon was triple what was around the last one, and it looked like every technical soldier they had was inspecting the cannon continually.

Once David felt the approach of the Callamandian soldiers, he motioned for Vivian and Giendia to get into their positions.  Giendia would once again be his safety net.  Vivian, on the other hand, would keep her eyes open for targets of opportunity.

Soon enough, the army arrived, and the Vrudenans raised the alarm.  Werewolves were running and shouting, and firing almost blindly into the forest.  This tactic worked better than they could have hoped, as they managed to hit and kill one of the Callamandian leaders completely by chance.  The army had to regroup slightly, as the leader's unit was quickly split to augment the remaining units in the attack force.  With that hastily done, the army continued its assault.

The Vrudenans hunkered down into their positions, firing from cover and trying to keep the Callamandians at bay.  The Callamandian Army was pushing forward, however.  This wasn't helping David's plan at all; the Vrudenans normally would not pull out the energy cannon until the battle lines had stabilized.  With the Callamandians moving forward, there was nothing he could do but watch.

Looking around in frustration, David found no officers standing in the open.  They were all apparently under cover of some kind.  He heard howls and barks above the sizzle of energy blasts, which probably denoted commands given to the were troops, but there was too much noise for him to try to focus on Jailla, to hear what they might be saying.

Suddenly, without warning, a blast issued from the energy cannon.  It sailed just over the heads of the weres, and landed amidst a cluster of his countrymen.

"What the fuck?" David growled.  He slid down out of his tree.  "You two stay here.  In fact, there's a gully back there.  Drop down into it and stay put.  I'm going to try to get a bead on that fucking cannon."

The other two hurried off while David became insubstantial.  He moved through the battlefield, feeling several blasts pass through him as he moved.  Thankfully, none of them recognized his presence, and so nothing exploded.

David got in front of the cannon, perhaps five hundred yards away.  He could look right down its barrel.  As he watched, the control crystal lit up with another ignition.  David pulled out his wand and aimed, but before he could become solid and cast a spell, the weapon fired again.  He felt the air ripple as the energy passed within feet of him.  It landed a hundred yards behind him, and the screams of dying soldiers raised a cold rage within him.

It didn't take long before another light of ignition showed itself within the cannon, but this time, David was ready for it.

"Xarapax!" David screamed, aiming his wand straight at the control crystal.  A vivid green light shot from his wand, streaking down the barrel of the cannon and hitting the crystal dead center.  In a fraction of an instant, it shattered into a hundred jagged pieces which all flew outward.  Several of them impacted the amplifier crystals, cracking and breaking them.  In less than a quarter second, the energy within the cannon blew it apart, throwing shrapnel in every direction.  The artillery soldiers in charge of the cannon were killed instantly, the large pieces of cannon that hit them ripped their bodies apart.

Further out, many werewolves died from loss of limb, and others were run through with huge shards of twisted metal.

David screamed, "Yes!" and tried to pump his arm in victory.  At that point, a screaming pain in his right arm announced itself.  Looking down, he found himself run through with a chunk of energy crystal.

"Well, fuck," David said.  He staggered; the pain was intense, now that his excitement was wearing off.

The battle was not over; the remaining Vrudenans were still fighting what was left of the Callamandian battalion that had begun this fight.  David didn't know how many of his fellow soldiers had been lost.  He knew that the loss on the enemy's side was going to be quite high, however.

Now, if I can just make it back to Vivian and Giendia before I pass out... David thought to himself.  He crouched as low as he could, moving quickly, to prevent himself from getting hurt worse.  He wished for ghost form at this point, but his injury prevented it.  Every step he took ignited a fire in his shoulder.  Every foot of travel was agonizing.  He considered removing the crystal from his shoulder, but he was unsure if, being a magical object, it might not do some damage when it came out.  He felt it best to leave that kind of thing to a professional.

The battle was over before David made it back to his troopmates.  He'd been forced to stop and rest three times over the course of a fairly short distance.  Once he'd reached a point where they could see him, he collapsed against a tree and slid down until he was slumped on the ground.

Vivian screamed and jumped up, running to his side.  She could see the crystal protruding.

"Oh, shit," she gasped.  Turning to Giendia, she said, "You need to go and get us some help from the battalion.  Go, quick!"

Giendia said nothing, but turned and sped off.  She was gone faster than Vivian could have imagined.

"Fuck, David, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here.  There's no blood... do you want me to remove the crystal?"

David shook his head.  "Might do something nasty if you do.  Just get me back to... well, somewhere with a healer."

"What the hell happened?  I mean, that's not what happened to the other three..."

David grunted, and grimaced.  "I didn't have time for that.  Too many lives at risk.  I just destroyed the crystals as they were trying to fire the cannon.  It blew up."

"In your face, apparently!" Vivian cried out, angry and scared that he had hurt himself again.

"I'll live," David said.

"No, you won't!" Vivian replied, the running joke helping to keep her from panicking.  She knew David wasn't going to die, probably wasn't even going to be seriously hurt, but every time something like this occurred, she couldn't help feeling terrified that something bad was going to happen.

God, I hate this fucking shit!

Giendia was back in a flash with a soldier on her back.  The soldier turned out to be a healer, who looked over David's shoulder with concern.

"Can you walk?" he asked David.

David snorted.  "I don't think I can stand up again.  The pain is fucking intense.  If you think it's safe, you can just take the damn crystal out.  It's not like I'm gonna bleed to death.  Giendia can give me a ride back to our pickup point."

"I don't want to remove that without several specific talismans on hand.  It could have latched itself on to your energy flow.  Just pulling it out... well, it would do really bad shit to a human.  I don't actually know what it would do to you, and I'd really rather not find out."

"You and me both," David grunted.

"Can you get up onto... sorry, what was your name, again?"

"Giendia."

"You think you can get up onto Giendia?  If she can get you back to our rally point, we can load you into an evac coach with some others."

"I can't stand up," David said.

Suddenly, a strong pair of arms reached down and grabbed David under the armpits.  Giendia lifted him like a rag doll and then twisted, depositing him onto her back.

"Well, that solves that part of the problem, but I can't hold on," David said.  "This arm is pretty much useless at the moment."

The healer raised his wand, twirled it in a small spiral, and intoned, "Stikemdair."  David was suddenly unable to lift his butt from Giendia's back, and his chest, which had been resting against her human back, was now firmly attached.  David let his right arm dangle, but wrapped his left arm loosely around Giendia's waist.

"This has its advantages," David murmured into Giendia's ear.  She immediately blushed.

"Okay, let's get back to the rally point.  The sooner I can get that thing out of you, the better I'll feel."

"You and me both," David repeated.  With that, Giendia led off toward the rally point, as she was carrying the highest ranking soldier in the group.

"Stand at ease, Vocator," the batalisto said.  David had been in the infirmary for a day before they were willing to let him out.  The healer, unfamiliar with David's body, didn't realize how quickly he would heal.  The wound was not fully closed, but it was no longer in need of watching.  David was putting on his uniform when his CO showed up.

"What happened out there?" DeSantis asked.

"Sir?"

"The Vrudenans got off two shots with that cannon."

"How many did we lose from that, sir?" David asked.

"Eighty-three."

"Fuck it all," David growled.  "Oh, sorry, sir."

"Why did we lose them, Vocator?  You were able to destroy the others without a shot being fired."

"There was no hope of preventing the first shot, sir.  They fired the cannon without moving it.  I'm guessing they simply took down the protection field.  When it was fired, they hadn't even raised it up any.  It was nearly horizontal on that first shot."

"Okay, but what about the second shot?"

David tried to shrug, but that hurt too much.  He winced in pain and grabbed his shoulder.  "I wasn't able to run fast enough.  In order to do anything, I needed to be able to see down the barrel of the cannon.  It wasn't pointed at me when they fired, so I had to move.  I got into position just as they fired their second shot.  It missed me by all of about three feet."

"I'll assume you were a ghost at that point, so what difference does that make?"

"Actually, sir, I wasn't.  I've found it somewhat difficult to perform strong spells quickly when in ghost form.  I took a fraction of a second to become solid before trying to stop the shot.  It wouldn't have mattered to the shot: I hadn't even begun uttering a spell before the shot was fired."

"So how did you get injured?"

"The spell I used shattered the control crystal in the cannon.  That caused all sorts of damage, and the energy blew the cannon apart.  Most of the weres who were killed died from shrapnel wounds.  One of the amplifier crystal pieces apparently flew straight forward, and hit me in the arm."

"Where were your troopmates?"

"Under cover, as I told them to be."

"They could have assisted you after your injury."

"They could have also become additional casualties.  I walked straight through the fighting to make it back to my troop, sir.  It would not have been safe for them to be with me."

The batalisto nodded.  "How long you figure before that arm is fully healed?"

"Two, maybe three days.  It's taking longer than it should because the crystal did magical damage."

"All right.  You're on leave until it's healed up, then.  You've earned a couple days.  Without their energy cannons, Vrudena's big guns are gone, and we've got an advantage."

"Don't be so sure, sir.  They've still got that noise cannon, or whatever it is."

DeSantis grunted.  "Well, they've not used that again since the first time.  Maybe they broke it."

"I wouldn't count on that."

"Yeah, well... until we're asked to go find it, it's not our problem.  Go get some rest, and we'll see you on Sunday."

"Yes, sir," David said, coming to attention.  He couldn't salute, as he had his right arm in a sling.

DeSantis saluted David, anyway, then left the infirmary.  David finished donning his uniform and left as well.

 "Master!" Olissa cried out, seeing David coming in the dining room.  She rose and went to him, but was afraid to hug him, as his arm was still in a sling.  "What happened?" she asked, distressed.

"Nothing really nasty," David said.  "Got hit by a piece of flying crystal.  Should be healed in a day or two, but they suggested I not use my arm until it was healed."  He reached out with his left arm and pulled her close, kissing her warmly, ignoring the others in the room.

"You're just in time for lunch," Denise said.

"Who's cooking?" David asked.

"I am," Denise said.

"Oh.  Well... I guess I'll eat it anyway..."

The others laughed while Denise threw a pot holder at David, who ducked.

The group, which included Jess, but not Gwen, who was working, and also included Pat, sat and enjoyed their lunch, avoiding discussion of the war in an unspoken agreement to let David relax some.

After lunch, Pat offered to do the dishes so that Olissa and David could get caught up on household affairs.  She knew that this needed to be done.

"So, any problems?" David asked, as he usually did when he came home.

"Only one," Olissa said.

"Oh?"

"Mr. Laramie," she said.

"What's he done?"

"He's taken over one of the upstairs bedrooms, despite me repeatedly telling him he's not allowed.  He threatened me at one point."

She didn't really want to tell David that last part, but the rules she lived under meant that omitting this important piece of information was tantamount to lying, and she had already been punished for that sin sufficiently during her slavery test a year and a half ago, during which David had paddled her to the point of screams more than once.

David's look darkened.  "And where is he now?"

"At work."

"When does he normally get back here from work?"

"Five o'clock or so."

"Okay.  Show me which room he's taken over."

Olissa led David upstairs, to a room on the right wing of the house.  The room wasn't even kept neat and tidy.

"I know I should be cleaning in here, Master, but doing so is why he threatened me in the first place."

David nodded.  "Your safety comes before cleanliness," David assured her.  He pulled out his wand and started casting spells.  He magically shoved all of Laramie's belongings into his suitcase, which was now bulging because David had put a non-destruct spell on it, but not a charm of holding.  He then floated the suitcase onto the lift, and then out the front door onto the porch.

David spent the afternoon outdoors.  He spent quite a while playing Frisbee with Eirwyn, then engaged in a game of hide and seek with a few of the kids staying at the house.  He always had to seek, since they insisted it was far too easy for him to hide.

As the time neared five o'clock, David went and sat in a rocking chair on the porch, talking with Denise and Olissa about nothing very much.  They were discussing plans for Halloween, which David couldn't take too seriously; he would probably be off on a mission somewhere on the 31st.

Finally, Olissa gestured to David, saying, "There's Mr. Laramie."

David rose as the man strode up the walk like he owned the place.  David slid the man's suitcase to a position where Mr. Laramie couldn't hope to miss it.

"What the hell's this?" Laramie demanded.

"Your things.  You are no longer welcome here," David said coldly.

"What's this shit?  First you invite me here for my safety, now you're changing your mind?"

"No, you changed your mind about wanting to be here," David said.

"I've done no such thing!" Laramie retorted.

"Obviously you did, because you've decided you don't want to follow the rules."

"What rules?  I haven't done anything to anyone!"

"Oh, but you have.  You were told clearly where your sleeping area was.  You decided to choose a different one, despite being told that you were not allowed."

"I don't take orders from fucking piss-ant servants," the man said.

David pulled his right arm out of its sling, stepped forward, and decked the man.  Laramie went sprawling to the ground.

"Olissa is my servant, not yours.  When I'm not here, she is in charge of this house.  That you fail to comprehend that is why you are no longer welcome here."

Laramie got to his feet.  "I'm not going anywhere!  You invited me to stay!"

"And now I'm un-inviting you," David told him.

"That's bullshit.  The only way for you to make me leave is to attack me.  I'll have you arrested if you try it!"

David nodded.  "If that's how you want to play it," David said.  Turning, he called out, "Bispy, want to do me a little favor?"

The man's head snapped to the right, to look over at Bispy.  "You keep that fucking thing away from me!  He touches me, and I'll still have you arrested!"

"Oh, see," David said sardonically, "you seem to be thinking that I'm going to stop him at some point."

David's face changed to a glower.  "If I have to ask him to take care of you, you're going to be dead, and you're not going to be having anyone arrested.  I will ask him to start.  At no point will I ask him to stop.  So, it's your choice.  You can get the fuck off my property, or you can become tomorrow's pile of dragon shit.  I don't really care which, but you aren't spending another hour here.  Nobody threatens my family, Laramie.  Nobody.  Not you, not the Vrudenans, not the king himself.  You violated that rule, and you get to pay the price for it.

"So what's it gonna be?  You leaving on your own, or does Bispy get to have some fun?"

Laramie looked at Bispy, who was eyeing him the same way lions eye wounded gazelles.  He swallowed.

Without a word, he picked up his suitcase and dragged it - he couldn't carry it, it was so bulging and heavy - out the gate.

David turned.  "Sorry, Bispy.  I'll find you a goat or something to play with to make up for it.  Probably be a little while, though."

Bispy snorted, little sparks issuing from his nostrils, then he turned and lay back down on the grass.

"You wouldn't really challenge the king?" Denise asked in surprise tinged with distress.

"Let's hope I never have to make that decision," David said simply.  They then went on to talk about other things.

"The batalisto's on the portal for you, sir," Bandador Wopat told him.

David grunted and made his way to the comm room.  He thanked the comm soldier who was waiting for him, then sat down in front of the portal.

"Yes, sir, what can I do for you?"

"Before we begin, please enact a privacy field.  This is a sensitive conversation."

"Yes, sir."  David turned and put the privacy field he'd used many times for much more fun reasons up into position, then turned back to the batalisto.  "Okay, all done.  What's up?"

"We're planning a major raid on a Vrudenan supply depot.  Most of the scout company will be involved, along with a battalion of infantry.  The goal is to destroy their food supply.

"As you have a habit of thinking outside of the box, I want you to spend some time considering ways we might be able to either help us achieve the goal more safely, or things we might do while we're there to harass the Vrudenans even further."

"The ultimate goal here is basically just to try to starve them out?" David asked.

"Well, we know we won't really achieve that.  They've got a strong ability to resupply.  But if we can destroy enough food, then it will seriously hinder them for a week or two, and that's worth doing."

"Yes, sir.  How is the operation supposed to work?"

"The infantry will keep the were guards occupied, while we go in and do the actual demolition."

"No reason to restrict ourselves to the food supply... I mean, as long as we're there..."

The batalisto grinned.  "True enough.  But if we just start blasting away at things, they'll know pretty fast what's up, and that won't help."

David nodded.  "So what we need is a way to destroy things quietly... or with a delay."

"Yes.  Or, at the very least, ways to protect us from being blasted to pieces while we're blasting their stuff to pieces."

David nodded again.  "I'll give it some thought, sir.  How much time do I have?"

"That hasn't been nailed down yet, but no earlier than the end of the week.  Pretend you've got until Friday."

"Yes, sir.  I'll let you know if I come up with anything."

"Good enough.  I won't keep you."

"Yes, sir."

As David returned to his office, his mind was already racing through possibilities.

What if we can go beyond just hampering their food supply?