The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (40 page)

“That’s right, but there’s always some who have to see it for themselves.” Reggie nodded.  “Did anyone else who refrained have a different reason?

“You, state your reason.”

“You’ve got us all psionicly.” The Sylvan he’d selected responded.  “There’s no use fighting with magic or steel when someone has you psionicly, and all of us together don’t have enough psionics to beat you, even if we could co-ordinate our attack, which we can’t.”

“That’s clear thinking.” Reggie nodded again.

“Now, the first thing we’re going to do is move you all to your new location, and get you started on building some decent homes for yourselves.” he continued.  “Until now you’ve all lived like animals in tiny dens and hollows in trees and caves and such.  You dared not build anything decent because it would make you easier to find, and it was too much work to give up if you were discovered and had to abandon it.  You live off the land and make no effort to replenish what you take, and most of you keep yourselves half-starved so you can devote less time to hunting, gathering, and fishing, and more to trying to kill each other.  Your social lives are almost non-existent, and none of you dared to have a child until you’re twenty five because a newborn is a severe tactical disadvantage.

“These things will all change now.  Since we will no longer allow you to kill or maim each other, you can have decent homes, you can gather around the fire at night and sing and dance and laugh, you can have children and know that you and your family are safe.  We will provide the females among you with a contraception spell so that you can have recreational sex without getting pregnant, or have a child when you choose to do so, and with the male you wish to be the father of your child.  Rape will no longer be tolerated.  If you want to fight each other, you will do so in an arena before the eyes of all, and only a after a formal challenge has been issued and accepted.

“You, you have a question?”

“Why should only females have the power to choose who has children?!” a young male asked.  “If they get to choose that our sex won’t make babies, we should get to do the same.  I don’t want some stupid doe to bear my child without my permission just because I want to have sex with her!”

“That’s a fair enough point.” Reggie granted, over-riding some angry yelling that started up.  “Helemia, you’re our best Healer.”

“I could come up with something that would allow the males to choose if they were fertile.” she granted.  “And I think I’ll modify both of the contraceptive spells so that both partners always know if the other is fertile when you’re having sex.  That way neither can lie about it.”

“For the next month at least, none of you will be having children.” Valentia stated firmly as she stood and augmented her voice.  “We have far too much work to do until then, and none of you will be having children until you have decent homes and an established community.  So we’ll start off with casting an unalterable contraception on all females.  By the time you have a situation where you can responsibly have children, we’ll have the modified spells ready for both genders.

“And it’s time we got to work.  Prepare yourself for Translocation.”

A moment later she Translocated the entire group, using the power she and her companions had stored in their batteries, most of which they’d received from the Sylvan magic attack.

They arrived on a beach on the north-east coast of Hiliani.  A line of small but jagged mountains paralleled the coast about a kilometer inland for as far as the eye could see, curving out of sight to the north-east and south-west.  Between the beach and the mountains was fairly level land covered with forest.

“This will be your new community, from here to the mountains.” Reggie announced.  “The first thing we need is latrine pits dug. A quarter of you will work on that with Karzog.  A quarter will gather building materials with Valentia.  Those who didn’t choose to attack or fight us earlier are probably the smart ones among you, so you’ll work with me on community planning.  The remainder will work with Helemia on altering the courses of the streams and building bridges over them so you all have access to water and we won’t be fouling them with silt by walking in them.

“If you’ve made good progress in two hours, we’ll take a break for a meal.

“And by the way, if any of you even think of escaping, disrupting the work, or sabotaging anything, we’ll know.”

Soon Karzog, Valentia, and Helemia had chosen their teams, and work began.  Since all of the Sylvan were capable wizards with about as much power as an equivalent number of elves, and were physically fit and larger than humans their ages by about a quarter, the work progressed quickly.  Some grumbled and complained, but most seemed to think their new circumstances weren’t so bad, and a few actively supported the changes in their lives.

Valentia’s team scoured the area for driftwood, fallen trees and large branches, and loose stone.  By the time that was done, Reggie’s team had decided on locations for eight large long-houses in the forest near the beach with garden plots and livestock enclosures.

The teams were re-organized and construction began, and proceeded with an eclectic mixture of elven, human, and Sylvan building techniques.

When the building had been going on for an hour, Valentia spent a few minutes casting hundreds of automated spells and sent them out all over the land and waters of Hiliani.  In a few minutes they’d located and started retrieving foodstuffs from all over the islands; plucking fish out of water, picking berries, fruits, and vegetables, and digging edible roots from the soil and shellfish from the shoreline.  These all flew back to her, and she had to cast a few more spells to protect her bounty from the local birds and insects as it was retrieved.

Once the retrieval of food was dealt with, she recruited fifty Sylvan to help wash and prepare it and cook what needed cooking.

The savory scents her team was producing wafted over the entire area, and when the supper break was declared they all set to with gusto.  For most of the young Sylvan, it was the best meal they’d had in years.

As they were finishing up amidst a beautiful sunset, Karzog addressed them;

“You’ve done well.  We’ll all take the rest of the night off and celebrate your new lives.  First we’ll cast the Contraceptions on the females, then we’ll make some bonfires and provide some music.

“If there are any songs or musical pieces that you’d like to hear, just let us know and we’ll get them from you with a Reading.  We’ll provide all the music psionicly since we don’t have any instruments, but we encourage any who know the words to sing along, and we encourage you all to dance.

“We’ll mark a  Challenge Circle on the beach for those who want to fight, and if any of you bear any grudges against one another, we encourage you to get them settled tonight.  You can challenge one another to fights, and if you bear a grudge against one who is far mightier than you, you can ask someone who is about as dangerous as the one you hate to be your champion.  I will referee all combat, and a victory will be declared when a fighter surrenders, is rendered unconscious, or is too injured to continue.  You can use lethal moves, but I’ll end the match before death can occur, and I’ll provide Healing to both fighters after every match.

“The festivities will end at midnight, and you’ll have a half-hour to relax and clean yourselves up before bedtime.  Since the shelters aren’t finished yet, you can sleep on the beach, and we’ll make sure none of you get cold or wet as you sleep, so you won’t have to worry about the chance of rain or dew.

Soon the Contraceptions were cast, lively music was heard all up and down the beach, and the bonfires were blazing.  Like the cooking fires, the bonfires were completely magic, since all the wood they’d gathered was used for construction materials.

The four Governors stationed themselves on the beach in the middle of the gathering, between the Challenge Circle and a bonfire.

The Challenge Circle was busy from the moment it was cast, and soon there was a long queue waiting to use it and a big crowd gathered around it to watch and cheer or jeer the fighters, but there appeared to be very little socializing going on other than that.  The crowding to see the fights soon became a problem, so Valentia cast a huge Revealing of the arena in the air above it, allowing any on the beach to watch the fights from wherever they were.

“They’re all messed up from distrust and isolation and constant chaotic warfare.”
Reggie privately observed to his three companions. 
“They’ve all forgotten how to have fun together except the youngest of them, and those ones are keeping to themselves because they’re so used to not trusting the older ones.”

“Hmm.  I might have something for that.”
Helemia giggled. 
“I’ll cast it slow so it’s not obvious.”

Over the next fifteen minutes the Sylvan started to become more gregarious.  They began mixing more, and laughter was heard.  Someone started to dance, and soon hundreds more joined in.

“Whatever you did is sure working good!”
Valentia giggled. 
“This is getting to be a party now!  What was it?”

“Something Nek showed me.”
Helemia giggled. 
“She and Reen use it in the pub so they won’t have to be bothered with making beer or wine, or suffer from the problems that alcohol causes.  It’s called Mandri and Dren’s Moderate Drunkenness, ‘cause it was their idea, but it was actually designed by Mandri, Nek, Hilsith, Dalia, and Bezedil.  I love the human-style spell names; they’re so much more colorful than the plain descriptive names elves use.”

“Bah.”
Valentia scoffed with a chuckle. 
“If I did that, I’d have had to have thought of about a thousand different spell names already, and they’d all be Valentia’s Vexing Vapor Vision or something equally silly.”

They all got a chuckle from that, which encouraged a few of the closer Sylvan to approach them.  They lounged on the sand facing the sea with the bonfire to their left and the Challenge Circle to their right; Karzog lying on his belly with his tail wrapped around him, and his three younger companions resting on lounges they’d formed from the sand.  Until then, the Sylvan had kept a respectful distance.

Three giggling Sylvan females of about sixteen years of age came and sat on the sand facing them.  “So what’s it like being a warlock?” one of them inquired.

“It’s pretty good so far.” Reggie laughed.  “Mind you, that’s mostly due to the time-bubble.  If it weren’t for that, we’d probably have been fighting the demons for the last four years already.”

“Well I’m glad we’ve got time to train for it, but I’m looking forward to fighting the demons!  I’m Meblit by the way, and this is Talvol and Lutimik.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Reggie nodded with a smile.  “And fighting the demons
will
be fun I suppose, as long as we’re winning decisively.  Losing and being burned by demon-fire are both no fun.”

“Ha, don’t be such a dark cloud!” Meblit teased.  “This is the greatest opportunity for glory that we’ll ever get!  We’ll destroy the demons and be immortalized in song and legend for our mighty deeds!”

Reggie chuckled.  “I’ve heard that Sylvan are eternal optimists, and it seems that it’s true.”

“Damn right.” Meblit laughed.  “The moment you think you might lose, you’re already half beaten.”

“Do you want to mate with me?” Talvol asked Reggie, who blushed almost purple in the firelight in embarrassment, which was aggravated by his sisters and Karzog breaking out laughing.

“Uh, I’ve heard that Sylvan females gain status amongst themselves by being mated by males of high status.” Reggie stammered.  “I assume that’s why you’re asking me?  Since we’ve assumed control here, I’m the highest status male?”

“That’s right.” Talvol smiled.  “And males gain status from mating more females than the other males.  We don’t mind that if the male has really high status like you, so if it’ll help convince you, you can have all three of us.”

“Sure.” Meblit agreed.  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“We don’t mind that you’re small or anything.” Lutimik added.  “You’re kind of cute in a really weird way.”

Valentia, Helemia, and Karzog had been having trouble controlling their laughter enough to follow what was being said, and with the last comment they lost in completely.  The girls rolled around on the sand, braying and squealing with hysterical mirth, and Karzog had to tell those fighting in the ring to pause until he could spare them some attention again.  The Sylvan around them who were following their conversation chuckled a bit at Reggie’s embarrassment, but they didn’t really know why he was embarrassed, or what the three found so hilariously funny.

Reggie was so mortified that he covered his face with both hands until he had a grip on himself again.  “Look.  I’m flattered by your offer, but I’m not going to be mating with you or with anyone else!”

“Why not?” Meblit inquired.  “We figured we had a better chance with you since we’re smaller that the older girls.”

“Because I just turned six years old, that’s why!” Reggie declared in exasperation.  “I’m not interested in that kind of thing yet, and I’m not going to be mating with
anyone
for at least ten years!”

“Eww.  Now
I’m
embarrassed.” Talvol muttered with a pinched face.  “Excuse me.” she said as she stood.

“Yeah.” Meblit agreed as she and Lutimik joined their friend in beating a hasty retreat.

Now the laughter of the rest of the Sylvan was as enthusiastic as that of Reggie’s companions, and the three girls ran into the woods to escape it.

That episode seemed to break the ice between the young Sylvan and their four conquerors.  Soon a group approached bearing offerings.  “We’ve made up a vat of juice from the leftover berries and fruit.” their spokesman said as they approached with pitchers and glasses they’d fashioned from black volcanic glass.  “Would you care for some?”

“Certainly, and thank you.” Helemia said as the three half-elves accepted, and Karzog declined with a shake of his head as he re-started the interrupted fight.