Extermination (Daniel Black Book 3) (31 page)

“I have several names in mind,” Tavrin confirmed.

“You two can figure that one out, then. I’m also giving you authority to create new units and appoint officers as needed. We’ve got the talent to create some interesting recon and raiding teams if we want them, but I don’t have time to give that topic the consideration it deserves so I’m going to have to leave it in your hands.”

“Very busy,” Demetrios said.

“Aren’t we all? Next order of business is diplomacy and espionage. To my mind those are two sides of the same coin, and while Cerise has done some preliminary work developing information sources in Kozalin we haven’t been able to give them the attention they need. In order to address that, I’m appointing Pelagia my Minister of Diplomacy.”

“An interesting title,” Pelagia mused. “I shall, of course, be happy to serve.”

“Good. You seem to be well known in certain circles, and we need to take advantage of that. On the diplomacy side, find us some allies and recruit us some more manpower. A few more bands of trained fighters would do wonders for our security situation, and a sympathetic noble or two would be very useful. On the espionage side, we need to know what’s happening in Kozalin and how to work the situation to ensure the locals don’t turn on us.”

“Aw, does this mean I have to turn over my network?” Cerise said.

“Cerise, if you want to play agent sometimes to keep your hand in that’s between you and Pelagia. But you’re usually with me on all these adventures I get dragged into, and being a spymaster requires actually being here. Besides, don’t you have an acolyte to train and enchanting to work on?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she said. “I was having fun with the undercover stuff, but I should really be spending more time training my little acolytes.”

“You have more than one now?”

She grinned. “Three, and a couple of elves are interested.”

Well, that should make Hecate happy.

“Finally, our discussions about assassins and commando raids have convinced me that it’s time to improve our security. From now on I want everyone in this room to make a point of bringing a team of bodyguards along whenever you leave the island, and I want to set up more thorough security for key locations like the treasury and my residence. I think military officers can arrange their own escorts easily enough, but for everyone else I want to put together a security team staffed by people from all of our various magical groups.

That got me some perplexed looks from around the table, although the older attendees seemed to get it.

“You’re forming a palace guard?” Marcus said.

I shook my head. “That’s probably what other people will see, but palace guards tend to be ceremonial units whose main skill is polishing their armor. The Secret Service is going to be staffed with people who can fight, and also have magic or enhanced senses they can use to spot threats that ordinary people might miss. Depending on the situation they may wear armor and act as obvious guards, or they may disguise themselves as servants. It’s a tricky set of skills, halfway between a soldier and a spy, and making this organization effective is going to take a lot of experimentation and creativity. Sefwin, I’d like you to lead it.”

“Me?” Sefwin sputtered. “But, Daniel, I’m only forty!”

“That’s four years older than me,” I pointed out. “Being a blooded warrior means you’re technically an adult by Nethwillin’s customs, right?”

“Well, yes, but I still have so much to learn.”

“Think of it as on the job training,” I said. “Feel free to get an older clan member to coach you, if you want. But you’ve impressed me, and this is something important you can do without exposing yourself to any great danger. I think the odds of a serious assassination attempt are actually pretty low, but I’ll sleep better knowing someone capable is putting serious effort into making sure it doesn’t happen. Will you do it?”

“I, well, yes.” She paused, and took a deep breath. “This is very unexpected, Daniel. Thank you for this opportunity. I’ll try not to disappoint you.”

The mortars caught the enemy completely off guard.

You’d think they would have known that with the return of the
Intrepid
my weapons would inevitably get repaired, but when the first barrage of mortar rounds sailed over Kozalin to land in the middle of their formation they just blindly continued their charge towards the city wall. They didn’t even have a new tactic to use on the city, just another repeat of the methods they’d been using daily for the last week.

My walls were so tall that from the mortar bunker I could see right over the city. Bright explosions flashed all over the field, cutting down densely packed troops by the dozen. Dinosaurs panicked at the noise, stampeding in all directions. Soldiers and equipment caught fire, chaos spread, and the attack ground to a halt before it even reached the city walls.

All that from four mortars with green crews and lousy accuracy.

We kept firing, and eventually a hundred or so pterodactyl riders rose from one of the camps to wing their way towards my island. The Griffon Knights stayed on the ground, forewarned of my plans. I wasn’t thrilled about relying completely on a new invention, but having them in the air would only make things harder. I knew better than to expect perfect aim or expert target discrimination from my men.

The machine guns around the mortar bunkers started firing while the enemy were still half a mile away. Glowing tracers flashed out into the sky, guiding my gunners as they adjusted their aim. The machine guns had a higher muzzle velocity than the weapons my infantry carried, and combined with the bigger bullets that gave them an impressive range. They weren’t terribly accurate, but with infinite ammunition they didn’t need to be.

A pterodactyl suddenly pitched to one side, and fell out of the sky. A minute later another one followed it, and then another. As they drew closer the air defense bunker atop the arcology tower opened up, and their casualties mounted. Pterodactyls rained down from the sky in droves, until their riders finally balked. They broke off the attack, and fled back towards their camp.

Barely half of them made it home, so I decided that would do for now. They might get a few bombs through if they tried a more determined attack, but one or two bombs wouldn’t accomplish much. If they started assembling a giant force of air cavalry I’d have plenty of time to notice, and set up more machine guns.

Until then, I had a million other things to do. My schedule had a bit more free time after my last round of delegation, but it was all going into construction and enchantment work.

Repairing the
Intrepid
was straightforward, if a bit time consuming. While I was at it, I replaced the old guns with the new quad-mount machine guns, so it would be able to defend itself from air cavalry. It was still vulnerable to being grounded by foul weather, but I added a force dome enchantment and better structural reinforcement spells so it would at least be harder to attack on the ground. That was good enough for Demetrios, who had the ship crewed and back doing rescue ops the day after I finished. Naturally their first objective was going to be the Nethwillin settlements in Central Asia, but with a crew of elves and Irithil as her new captain they could organize that on their own.

Then I decided to finally do something about my annoying shortage of wolfen. Not only were they more useful than ordinary humans, but I figured anyone willing to get turned into one wasn’t likely to freak out and go crying to the church when they found out what all was living on my island.

The problem, of course, was that Avilla had accidentally made the first wolfen by repeatedly feeding them felwolf steak in a magical ritual designed to steal power from the monsters. Since I didn’t have a herd of giant wolves handy we weren’t going to be able to repeat that process on any large scale.

In theory my flesh magic might be powerful enough to turn people into wolfen, except that I didn’t have a template for that transformation. The purely physical part of the change I could have copied from one of the wolfen, but the magical aspect was an important part of what made them so useful. Not just strength and cold resistance, but that fearless animal ferocity they all showed.

Was there a way to create a template my magic could follow? After the
Intrepid
was back in action I pulled Cerise and Avilla into the lab to discuss the problem.

“Now that I have a proper kitchen I could make a much stronger recipe,” Avilla suggested. “I think I could do four or five whole transformations from each felwolf you kill.”

“They won’t all take,” Cerise pointed out. “We’d have to come up with a way to pick out people who are compatible with the wolf nature.”

“Not to mention that if we start hunting felwolves on a regular basis the enemy will notice, and set a trap for us,” I pointed out. “Cerise, how similar is your power theft to Avilla’s ritual?”

“Eh, it’s kind of a weak version of what I do. I’m actually eating part of their essence, so I get a really strong effect. She’s just gathering some of the residue that’s left in the body. Why?”

“I’m trying to figure out a way to apply my flesh magic to the problem,” I explained. “If there was a way to sort of package up the essence of what makes a wolfen, I think I might be able to copy it.”

“Magical powers fall under the domain of flesh sorcery?” Avilla asked skeptically.

“It works with catgirls,” I pointed out. “I think the mana sorcery is involved in making that work.”

Avilla frowned thoughtfully. “You mean like Tina? I thought her powers all came from Bast.”

“The really impressive stuff does, but not all of it. The template that came with my sorcery includes keen senses, superhuman reflexes, regeneration and enough strength to arm wrestle a troll.”

“Hey, if the cat thing is that badass why don’t you just use it instead?” Cerise suggested.

“Because for some reason it turns the subject into a girl regardless of their original gender. I don’t think we’re going to find a lot of soldiers who want to be turned into cute, bouncy young women.”

My witches both giggled.

“I don’t know, there are all kinds of strange people in the world,” Cerise suggested.

“No one would admit to something like that,” Avilla objected. “Too bad, it’s a funny image. Um, what about girls?”

“How many women would be willing to become warriors? Even if we got volunteers, how much training would they need? I’m looking for ways to enhance our soldiers here, and that doesn’t seem like a very promising approach. Or did you just want to make all the maids look like Tina?”

“That would be a little much,” Avilla admitted.

“I don’t know, I think she might enjoy having more people like her around,” Cerise said. “Besides, Bast is going to want priestesses. I bet she’d like having a whole tribe of catgirls.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “But we’re getting sidetracked.”

Cerise pouted. “I guess. Well, I think I could make a weapon that does the power theft magic and just stores the energy it gets. Would that give you what you need?”

“Maybe. I’d have to take a look at what you end up with, and see if my sorcery can make sense of it.”

“Wait, how are you going to even find a felwolf?” Avilla asked. “You can’t just go wandering around out in the snow with that army camped on our doorstep. That’s too dangerous, even for you two.”

“Guess we’ll have to get my flight working first,” Cerise suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea,” I agreed.

“What? No! Cerise, what are you going to do, carry Daniel? That can’t be safe.” Avilla protested.

“I was actually thinking of copying the flight magic,” I told her. “Avilla, sweetie, you’re worrying too much. I’m not going to do anything crazy here.”

Cerise sighed, and pulled Avilla into her arms. “He’s right, Avilla. We’re home safe now, and Hecate isn’t sending us orders to do anything else crazy. We’re not gonna go run off and get ourselves killed.”

“Promise?”

“I promise, sweetie,” I said gently. “Relax, okay?”

Cerise started kissing the side of her neck. I took her hands in mine, and kissed her forehead. After a moment she relented, and relaxed into our shared embrace.

“I’m sorry. I should trust you both more than that. I’ve just been so worried. You’re really going to stay at home, at least for a few weeks? That’s all I need to finish the blessings I’m working on.”

“That’s why I’m trying to make it so our people can do everything that needs doing,” I assured her. “If Cerise and I do go out it will only be for a few hours, and only if we figure out a way to do it safely.”

Cerise smiled, and started unbuttoning Avilla’s dress. “I think our girl needs more reassurance than just some words, Daniel. How about we remind her how much we love her?”

It was a good while before I got back to work that afternoon.

Cerise’s suggestion turned out to be a good one, though. The flight magic she’d stolen from that dragon worked on a completely different principle than my force sorcery. Watching the field of magic that formed around her wings when she tried to fly gave me a lot of ideas. We spent several hours in the garden the next morning, experimenting with various improvised attempts at flight buffs while she bounced around flapping her wings.

They generated a lot more lift than they should have, because each one projected a field of magic that grabbed hold of the air around it and effectively doubled her wingspan. Her flight muscles were fantastically strong, too. Not surprising, considering the blend of demonic and draconic attributes empowering them.

Watching them work proved a lot more distracting than I’d anticipated, though. When she manifested her wings the flight muscles wrapped around her rib cage to her sternum, and most of the actual muscle ended up in front. When she flapped her wings her breasts swelled and rose, shifting with the motion of those big muscles underneath them. It was pretty damned eye-catching, especially once Cerise realized what was happening and started teasing me on purpose.

“See something interesting?” She grinned.

“Wench. Don’t you ever get enough?”

“Of you looking at me like that? Fuck, no. You don’t think it’s weird, then? I was kind of embarrassed when I first realized what was happening.”

“I suppose some people would think it was strange,” I admitted. “But it looks pretty hot to me. Kind of reminds me of this stripper I saw once who could make her breasts bounce using just her pectoral muscles.”

“Stripper? What’s that?”

“Dancers who put on a show that involves taking off their clothes while they prance around on a stage,” I explained. “For money, obviously.”

She grinned. “Sounds fun. I love how decadent your country is, Daniel. Too bad I’ll never be able to see it. So, are we gonna figure out this flight thing, or am I just showing off my sexy boobs?”

I laughed. “I’d tell you to turn around, but you’re just as distracting from any angle. Okay, seriously, it just caught me by surprise. Let’s give this another try.”

Once we got back to work I realized that there was something else going on with Cerise’s flight magic. Part of her weight was being negated when she tried to fly, by a really odd knot of magic that looked more like a banishment than anything else. No, not one banishment. Two of them, with targets that weren’t really compatible.

“I think I see what your problem is,” I told her after I’d studied the interaction for a bit.

“Really? Sweet! Enlighten me, oh wise and benevolent wizard.”

“Oh, boy. What are you buttering me up for now?”

She bounced impatiently, drawing my gaze back to her barely restrained breasts. Where was she getting all these skintight outfits, anyway?

“I want to fly, silly! Now come on, tell me already.”

“Alright, alright. It looks like you’ve got two different kinds of magic trying to reduce your weight so you can get yourself off the ground, but they’re interfering with each other. I’m not quite sure how applying a banishment to your weight is supposed to work, but having two different enchantments playing tug-of-war with it certainly isn’t going to accomplish anything.”

“Huh. Yeah, that makes sense. Hang on a minute, let me see if I can suppress the demon part of that.”

I have to admit, watching Cerise manipulate her internal magic was pretty impressive. It only took her about a half hour of meditation to identify the part that was causing the conflict, and suppress it. With that done she was able to make some impressive wing-assisted leaps, although she still had trouble actually getting airborne. Then I just copied the lift enchantment onto a ring for her.

Suddenly, she had no trouble at all with her takeoffs. In a matter of minutes she was swooping gleefully around the garden area, laughing like a maniac. Her first attempt at a loop ended in disaster, but she was far too tough to be hurt by a little tumble onto dirt. She just launched herself back into the air, and tried again.

Tina wandered out onto her balcony, attracted by the noise. She did a double take when she saw Cerise flying. Then she clapped her hands, bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Cerise! You’re flying,” she shouted.

“I know! It’s awesome!” Cerise answered. She alighted on the railing next to Tina for a moment, gave her a quick but enthusiastic hug, and took off again.