The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Thank you, people of Emel, for coming.” Sien says, projecting to ensure all of those gathered in the square can hear her.

“We called you here so that we and you can know where all of us stand.” Micah continues.

“That is why we asked Legents Jeff and Alice here today.”

“They are here to force us, both of us, to speak the truth when we tell you of what we intend here today.” Micah announced.

“Once we have sworn, we will silence all lies then start with the highest officials being sworn in. Then they shall go from there and we shall have no further part.”

“You shall witness, everyone here is witness.”

“All I, we, shall do is ensure that in this square today, everyone shall answer with the truth. They shall one and all be free to refuse to answer any question, but should they choose to answer, it shall be truth.” Sien continues in an odd tone.

“So beware your questions and your words.”

“Are we going to accept their proposal?” Tagoni asked the war council.

“What choice do we have?” King Dest asked, “We cannot ask more than this from Emel. They offer passage for our forces with theirs picketing our path. They are not stable enough yet to join us, yet if we wait, the Kallows will overrun them.”

“According what we have been able to discover, they are gathering their fake Blood Queens in the woods around Massoon, which is why Emel offered Gahalia for a staging area.”

“I don’t like that. It traps us at a river.” A general said, indicating his point.

“It also traps them.” Tagoni observed, “And keeps us out of the mountains where geography can make their numbers equal to ours.”

“It will take us a week to cover the distance using trains and another week to get organized. We only have three weeks until equinox, which appears to be the timetable.”

“You know there are times I feel more like an arbiter in general than a commanding general.” Tagoni joked.

“It has always been thus at the top General.” Someone said with a straight face. Moments later the whole meeting was laughing in agreement.

“Are you, the advisory council, convinced you have enough known, loyal people to begin reconstructing a working government?” Hearth Father Micah asked while staring at Sien. She is still humbled, laying nude in the fountain with her head in his lap. She has been there the entire day, using her Magic and the power of Thumb refute and refuse all spoken lies. Neither had liked it, but the amount of power it took could only come from sunlight and the control from tapping the power of Thumb directly. That meant maximum exposure to both sunlight and Thumb. The result had been her nude in the fountain with him to watch over her. He guarded and commanded, she made sure that no one spoke any words that were not true. Fortunately, it has been a warm sunny day so both are merely wet, not half frozen.

“Yes Hearth Father, we are.” The first councilor answered.

“About that.” Micah said as he released the humbling freeing Sien.

“About what?” He asked.

“Sien? How are you doing?” Micah asked.

“Well. Are we done?”

“We are done.”

“Good.” Sien said rising and accepting a robe from Captain Neall.

“Shall we?”

“Yes. First Councilor,” Sien said, turning to him. “We are appointing Captain Neall as our steward to act in our name.”

“Appointing? Are you leaving? Going somewhere?”

“Yes councilor we are.” Sien answered, “We have arranged in private for our army to line the route the Ericson alliance combined armies will be taking to Gahalia. This is in preparation for a strike at the Kallows where they gather at Massoon. Hopefully before the Kallows are ready.”

“Why?”

“Because the Kallows will march on us soon enough no matter what we do or do not do. It will happen whether we like it or not, or are ready or not.” Micah answered.

“I will be escorting them there and assisting as best I can.” Sien told them.

“And you Hearth Father?” The councilor asked, turning to him.

“I’m going home. Captain Neall there gets the hard job. He gets to run things until the people have decided for themselves who and what they really want as rulers.” Micah replied sadly.

“We are neither qualified, nor fit to take on such a large undertaking.” Sien went on. “My own foremothers and forefathers took from the people all choices, leaving them no voice in their own futures. I, we, Micah and I that is, are returning that choice, giving back that voice. I am not likely to return from the front anyway. The Kallows has Blood Queens by the dozen according to a spy, though none are as strong as my clan for they are false. A power granted by unknown means. Yet it matters not, even at a quarter or less of my strength, they outnumber us like stalks of wheat.”

“You abandon us?”

“No.” Micah answered. “We free you. You don’t need us. Choose your own path. Go your own way. I am tired of being what I am not, good bye.”

“Then why are you going to fight?” The councilor asked Sien.

“Duty.” She answered easily. “Yen is gone, bonded to her land now. Nicole is powerless, sentenced by a Legent to be a Techist. That leaves me. I am the last true Emel with the power. My older cousins are too late to learn it safely. My younger ones will know better. Thus I am alone, and I have an army of fakes, pretenders who have stolen power not theirs to repeat the atrocities of the past. I shall not permit that.”

“One against an army?”

“If need be, but I’ll have several to back me up. While I do this, you have a Hearthhold to rebuild and a people to lead.” Sien answered the councilor and Captain Neall both. Then she turned away and left.

“This is verified?” The Man asked Land Mother Kilsin.

“Yes. This Sien refuted lies in the Palace Square for a day and then left.”

“The Legents tolerated that?”

“Yes, in fact two of them swore she and Micah in after they answered questions under oath, then Sien refuted lies. And here is the part you may find interesting. She undressed and lay down nude in the central fountain on the platform. After that this Micah humbled her, ordered her to begin. Then he ordered those willing to take oaths to filter themselves. Sien and Micah didn’t pose questions to anyone beyond the first councilor.”

“Then they left?”

“They appointed their escort guard, a captain Neall from Dest, as their steward with orders to determine what the people of Emel really want for themselves. She left for Gahalia, the alliance rally point in response to our training camp in Massoon, while he is going home.”

“So neither is planning on coming back?”

“I must say.” The Unnamed broke in, “Given the Hearthdaughters track record of choosing people, I expected better of them.”

“Don’t be too confident.” He replied. “You are looking at purely combat evaluations of those she chose and equipped to spy. We haven’t seen her choices to fight yet.”

“How is Danus doing?” Land Mother Kilsin asked.

“He is doing well.” The Unnamed replied, laughing. “He now has three very strong women bonded to him. If their power expands as far as his control then they will be as strong as any other dozen, or more. You have good blood in him. He will do well.”

“How well compared to this Tagoni the Legents gave his wife Nicole’s power to?”

“Unknowable. Tagoni is new to Magic, and has a Techist mind. Normally that should limit him quite severely. However, he has his wife to teach him along with two thirds of the two dozen strongest Magists on the continent, and perhaps the world.”

“So as is the rest of it, it is all a numbers game?”

“Yes Land Mother,” The Unnamed answers. “They grow stronger as their numbers grow. We grow stronger as our people grow stronger. We also gather more machines to extend that strength yet again.”

“Do you mean the things that look like single shot pistols only bigger and are hauled on wagons?”

“Those are called artillery.” The Man answers. “They now have a range of leagues, well over twice the width of the river valley the troops must cross to join battle.”

“Then once the enemy closes?”

“They don’t live to get back out of range.”

“And,” The Unnamed says smiling, “Thanks to the geography on our side, they can’t just charge us without bogging down in the river basin.”

“So once they close?”

“It’s over.” The Man and the Unnamed smile as one.

“Is there anyone here who isn’t having second thoughts?” Tagoni asked the war council. They were gathered a week ahead of the last forces that would arrive.

“If there is,” Hearthdaughter Ericson spoke up, “then I say we send them home because they would have to be clinically unwell in the head.”

“Is that feeling from across the river what we all think it is?” A general from Yasan asked.

“Oh, you mean the ominous dread that sets your teeth on edge?” Tagoni asked sarcastically.

“Partly.”

“From what Tagoni has told me...” Lady Nicole Yemel Dest started in.

“Blood Queens.” Sien said, joining them. “Lots and lots of Blood Queens.”

“Sien?” Nicole asked, startled. “I thought you were getting your government together.”

“They are abusing Blood Seed Nikel.” Sien responded seriously. “They are taking everything that ever made us who we are and abusing it. They are not leaving the field once joined.”

“Sien? Where is Micah?”

“They are singing Nikel. They sing the songs of Blood and Bond.”

“You mean?”

“Yes.” Sien said angrily. “Zandrus.”

“He’s a myth.”

“I know you can’t hear them anymore Nikel, but I can. We were raised with the legends. We know the myths. We personify the mistakes of our past. The Kimer do not know, have not lived the past like we have. They don’t recognize it for singing. All they know is this thing slithering in their thoughts.”

“This has all happened before.” Nicole whispered.

“And this shall all happen again.” Sien finished what is obviously a mantra.

“What did you say?” Lisa demanded as a dim memory hints at her.

“Listen Hearthdaughter.” Sien said harshly. “Listen closely and tell me.”

“Tell you what?” Lisa asked as Sien raised her arms upward as though in prayer.

“You mean?” Nicole whispered.

“Tell me what you hear now.” Sien said and then raised a shield around them. “And then tell me what you do not hear.”

“What is that?” Lisa asked puzzled. “I didn’t notice it before, but I can hear its absence now.”

“That is the pulse of life and war.” Nicole answered quietly. “It is his calling card.”

“Who’s?”

“A Prince of Chaos.”

“We have always considered him a myth, a legend, not real.” Sien added.

“Who?” Lisa repeated.

“We called him Zandrus, others call him Ethan, it means helper, sort of.” Sien replied.

“He helped you?”

“Yes, he always has his own game, but according to legend he made us, brought us into being. It is the kind of legend that grows across generations to explain your privileged place, your power.” Sien answered frowning.

“There is a myth Hearthdaughter.” Nicole said, wide eyed. “A myth that says our Sync wars were not the first, and were not our beginning. Myth speaks of another age. It speaks of a time long ago when monsters ruled the world, when machines marched to war with and without men. It tells us of Chaos and Order facing each other on blood stained fields. Zandrus was there, helping us, bringing us together. Myth tells us that the Blood lords themselves were his servants and his weapons in that war. It was a war that only ended when the Legents rose against them.”

“You mean that your family, your clans, predate the Legents?” Lisa asked.

“The Legents as we know them, yes.” Nicole whispered. “There used to be another word for them, an older one.”

“What word?”

“When they first came, the Legents, it is said they were called Guardian Angels, the servants of God.”

“Yae Wah’s hands and eyes. The fingers of the fist of heaven.” Lisa whispered as moments from shared memories played across her mind. They leave a hollow in her stomach.

“Where did you hear that?” Sien demanded, white faced.

“It doesn’t matter now. It is too late to change course. Sien, take the Kimer with you. Make a line and block this. Teach them how as well. I think if it continues it will drive our troops to a frenzy.”

“That is its job.” Nicole replied. Both she and Sien are staring at Lisa. “How?”

“Later.”

“I’m sorry Lisa.” Nicole said firmly. “But not this time. Not later, now.”

“Don’t push me Emel.” Lisa said with a touch of anger. “I don’t have the time.”

“Not later.” Nicole said, standing.

“You want to do this?” Lisa asked, turning to Nicole while removing her ring and dropping it. “You couldn’t take me back before this all started. You want to start now with no powers?”

“If I have to.” Nicole replied coldly as she dropped hers as well. The room began to clear between them.

“You think because we showed you a few tricks, that we showed you Magic flowing, you think that makes you able to face me?” Lisa demanded as the air turned dark around all of them. A moment later they were standing in a circle on a flat plain of white with expanding gray walls showing more and more people as they went. Lisa was still talking. “You want to know about power Emel. You want to know why I don’t have time. Look around you. These people are in the meeting now, all of you. We are in a shared mind, a single mental vision and I am doing this, alone, unaided as I force all of you here, even the Techists.”

“What is this?” Sien asked almost silently, looking for Nicole.

“Welcome to communion Emel.” Lisa said holding up her arms in a sweeping gesture. “This is the sort of power I worry about. Life rhythms in music carried by Magic are not my concern. Hear me, all of you. I am worried about the big picture, not the details. You all are good at your jobs. Do them and let me do mine.”

“What was that about?” Someone asked when the white plain fades and Lisa is nowhere to be found.

“I think she meant it to put us in our place.” Sien whispered in shock.

“I think it worked.” Nicole replied, wide eyed and still staring at the doorway Lisa had exited through after they spoke while the rest, Magist and Techist alike, had stood blank eyed in communion.

“What is that?” The Unnamed asked The Man as they sat eating lunch.

“Interesting.” Is his only reply.

“What is wha...” Land Mother Kilsin is asking when she feels it.

“Who is the proper question.” The Man laughed.

“Who?” Danus asked, shocked at the idea.

“You’re right.” The Unnamed replies, startled. “And I see why you want so many of the girls now. The amount of power is astounding. The control is just plain scary. Is that him?”

“That was the Hearthson?” Danus asked.

“No Danus,” The Man replies staring at the horizon. “That was her. That was just the Hearthdaughter making a point.”

“She must be a dozen times stronger than I thought.” Danus said, amazed. “That was stronger by far than anything I’ve ever seen done.”

“Easily,” The Unnamed agrees, “Yet the amazing part was the control.”

“Agreed.” The Man replies, “And what you felt was just a conference.”

“Conference?”

“She joined a few dozen minds in the white room in order to illustrate the level she works on now. I am glad to see it as well. Now I can begin teaching you that for coordinating the long guns.”

“You always wait to match?” Danus asked.

“It is part of how I avoid the eyes of the Legents.” He replied.

“Could you take them?” Danus asked pointing in the direction of Gahalia.

“Easily, but not without alerting every Legent on the planet. Well, one or two might not hear depending, but I could depend on them being here in an hour or two.”

“Hour?” Land Mother Kilsin asked. “You’ve used that word before. What is it?”

“I mean a Bell. Sorry, slip of the tongue.”

“Could the Unnamed here take on the Hearthdaughter?” Danus asked laughingly.

“Maybe, if nothing went wrong, if everything went in her favor, it could happen on her best day and the Hearthdaughter’s worst, but even then I wouldn’t bet on her.” He answered shrugging at her, “No offense.”

“None taken.” She replied. “Now that I have a better idea what to look for I can tell the surviving Emel, Sien, is there now. I can feel the Hearthdaughter and she is scary. The Kimer are far stronger than our girls, but there are only three of them. Worse power wise are the dozen or so Vale daughters. Where the Blood Queens have mental intervention as a core part of their power, the vale daughters are purely physical power. They are limited only by their concentration and focus.”

“Which is dependent on the control the collars they wear allow.” The Man smiled interrupting.

“So they have three or four that can take minds and a dozen with lots of raw power.”

“Against us, and we are legion. Five days and we will be ready.” The Man laughs.

“So what do we call you?” The first councilor of Emel asked Captain Neall, “And why did they leave this Cinna the retard with you?”

“I have no idea.” He replied, “I expected them to return or the Legents to come take care of this mess. It never crossed my mind that I would still be here. As for Cinna, she was just a part of our cover for our mission here. I think they meant her as a going away present of sorts.”

“What are your intentions then?”

“My only goal is to do what I was tasked with, which is determining what the people want and implementing it.”

“It has always been that we choose among the choices the Legents give us.”

“Not this time.” Neall replied, “This time the people have to say what they want, not just who they want. It stunned me that they chose to allow back the Emel given how they were treated before.”

“The stewards rarely considered the people. She challenged, knowing it would kill her, in order to give back what was stolen. The choice was between madness or a youngling willing to admit not knowing what to do next, and willing to ask for help.”

“So how do we go about asking what the people really want so I can go announce that decision at the front, with someone leading our armies I hope?”

“Feeling lost?” Someone asked, breaking into Micah’s reverie. Glancing around looking for the voice reminded him that he is on the same train platform where he, Sien and Nicole arrived at Dest just a few moons ago.

“Sorry, I’ll get out of the way.” He replied, moving.

“If you love a thing let it go, if it comes back to you, it is yours to keep forever, if it does not, then it never was yours to begin with.” She says, startling Micah with how familiar she looks despite him being sure they have never met before.

“What?” He asks trying to stare at her because every time he looks away he loses the image of her and he is sure she looks just a little different each time he sees her anew.

“Just a quote from long ago.” She answered, smiling. “You look so very lost and the only thing I know that could make a young man that lost is love.”

“I’m just not sure.” He replied as caution warred with the feeling that he could talk with her.

“Not sure of what?”

“What I feel.” He replied, looking down.

“Then decide not what you can live without, but what can you live with, or do they do that the other way now, I lose track.” She laughed. “Yet you must also remember, if a thing was once, it can be again. Power can neither be created, nor destroyed, just changed, altered, redirected.”

“I don’t know.” Micah whispered. “Not all things that are, are real.”

“We are all our own best hope, and our own worst enemy. We need to know ourselves, what we can do, what we will do, before we can know what others will or won’t do. A thing is, or a thing is not. ‘To be or not to be’ it was once said. The knowing of which is the question, the answer, and the challenge. Sometimes the fore echos of our actions, our questions, are the answers we seek. Just as we break eggs to make breakfast, sometimes we must break old things to make new things, or remake old things by giving them back a bit of what they once were. As though we were making them anew, or restoring them. After all, no matter who we lean on, no matter what happens around us, only one thing remains eternally true, we are each our own...Fate.”

“What?” Micah stammered as he looked up to see no one there. Then he looked at the ring he found wore. He thought he had left it back at Emel, yet rode his finger like he was born with it. In that moment, Micah reflected back on the last moons of his life. Of the things he has done, of the things he allowed to be done, of the things that happened around him. Inside Micah can feel where the frustration built as events marched on without pause around him. In that moment, Micah knows that if he runs now, he will always run, will always be on the run. The boy looks at the ring, the teen at his bags, the young man at his other belongings, and the man looks at the railroad schedule. The Hearth Father Emel finds Gahalia on it. The Blood Lord Micah the first steps on board the train.

“And the long guns won’t simply explode from the Magic around them?” General Verisin of the Kallows asked, staring at the simple looking setup in the emplacement shortly before dawn on the day before the equinox.

“No.” The Man answered. “Instead of the normal powders for firing, all you need this way is basic components. The girls provide the rest. Where gunpowder is always ready to go off, this is just the potential that their magic combines to make ready.”

“So you expect just refined manure and coal to fire my guns?”

“Just watch General.” The Man laughed. “Anders, if you please, instruct your girls to begin.”

“Yes sir.” A worrisomely tired looking young man said with a smile as he turned to the three collared young women behind him. Then he grinned hearts later as the ground seemed to jump up at them and smoke came from the long gun pointing high into the air while dust danced in rings above the ground.

“What in Chaos name?” Is muttered by Techist and Magist alike in the alliance camp. The Magists many heart ahead of the Techists.

“That was loud, but it felt like someone summoning fire.” Two Magist friends are saying when an explosion happens near the river, a quarter league from the forward base.

“What in Chaos name?” Multiple Techists exclaim in shock, since nothing explosive was anywhere near there.

“What is that?” The Magists ask themselves amidst the Chaos. They hear what they think is a giant bird whistling, and then hearts later, another random explosion, this one closer.

“You don’t suppose?” One asked the other.

“Incoming!” The older one shouts, momentarily interrupting the Chaos of the camp. Then the next explosion hits and no one doubts anymore, they are under fire with something like a ballista or a catapult, only far longer ranged.

“Chaos take.” Is the near universal curse of the Magists as the far off feeling of fire magic becomes drum-like. Every fourth heart it flares again, and again, and again.

“Order Make.” The original shouter whispers as he sees the explosions become a field of fiery blossoms with the strangest sight of all in it. For walking through the camp, intact shields deflecting shrapnel and dust alike, is the Hearthson followed by one of the Michelson Heir Primus’ near look alike cousins.

“Like a rifle I believe.” Charles is saying to Kandra as he watches the ordered camp dissolve in near chaos.

“But bigger and pointed at the sky?” She asked.

“Exactly. Now watch closely.” He replied concentrating on something then made a fist pointing at the sky.

“What are you doing?”

“Seeing what is happening.” He answered as the camp continued to explode around them.

“Mind if I try to deflect some of this?” Kandra asked.

“Enjoy, unlike simple rocks though, they’re slippery little things. I’m trying to catch one and it’s no fun.”

“Boom.” She laughs, tracking a slight distortion glittering through the air. Then it explodes well away over the river.

“I was trying to catch that.”

“Then catch one that isn’t going to hit camp.” She said, grinning with joy as the Power of the Vale flowed, singing throughout her.

“You’re as bad as your cousin.”

“Why thank you.” She laughed, punctuated by another explosion high in the sky.

“What is this?” Tagoni demanded, watching the chaos unfolding in the forward camp.

“Charles is indicating some sort of weapon like a slingshot, but with a barrel like a rifle instead he believes. The fire spells are how they are what he called, firing it, like you do with rifles.”

“Only larger.” Tagoni agreed. “Keep the falling back orderly as best you can. It looks like Charles is relieving some of it.”

“No, that’s Kandra.” Lisa corrected. “Lucas, get the Vale on it. I’m going to try to figure out where they are firing from.”

“On it Lisa, you can worry about intelligence. Will Kandra be enough to keep him safe until he wanders back our way?” Lucas asked exasperatedly.

“I am worrying about intelligence and yes she will be plenty. He is figuring out what is firing. Once he gets a better idea then I will know better where to look.”

“Can I borrow three of the Vale.” Sien asked Lucas.

“Sure, why?”

“I need to make a Seed link with them so I can coordinate and I think I can cover the fall back.”

“Telli, Veran, Nyra, go with the Emel.” Lucas ordered before turning his attention back to planning, trusting the others to do their jobs.

“Yes sir.” The three indicated girls answer, surprised.

“Any of you three have any problems kissing another girl?” Sien asked with a laugh as they moved away from the group.

“No.” Veran laughed. “And I suspect that is why he picked us. We all swing a little loosely.”

“Perfect.” Sien said, wiping herself below. “Come here.”

“Yes ma’am.” Veran laughed nervously.

“Now what you need to do is let your mind go blank. I am going to Humble you for a moment and the blanker you are, the more you give into the moment, the faster I can do this.”

“Ok.” Veran replied and is treated to Sien giving her a kiss, a real kiss. Once a quick wipe at the base of her skull is done, she is being explored as well, then a moment of nothingness.

“Next.” Sien said, helping a disoriented and dazed looking Veran to kneel.

“Ok.” Telli replied, stepping forward nervously.

“Just relax.” Sien said Just as Veran had, Telli lets go. Then it is Nyra’s turn. By that time a few people have stopped to watch the show despite the ongoing bombardment.

“What is that echo?” Veran asked as the three of them for a triangle around Sien.

“Patience,” Sien ordered as she knelt on a mat while motioning them to hold hands. “Now open your minds to the whisper.” The three Vale daughters pause and try to comply. “So I can do this.” They all hear as a white room like Lisa made forms around them.

“What is this?” Nyra asked, concerned.

“A little trick I picked up in Emel, a refinement of things the Hearthson does.” Sien laughed as the world seemed to reform around them. “Now, Veran, I want you to make a shield as a wall on the far side of the river. You aren’t trying to stop anything though. I just want you to be able to show where it is pierced.”

“Ok.”

“Telli, same thing, but in the middle of the river.”

“Ok.”

“I know; this side of the river.” Nyra interrupted, “But how high?”

“A league long and a quarter high. Do not even try to stop anything with a shield that big. Just show me where it goes through. As long as we are in here you can make the spot shiny so we can all see it.”

“What are you going to do?” Veran asked as a bright spot appears in her shield, then Telli’s and finally in Nyra’s.

“Lance it.” Sien answered, gathering the morning sun. Then she formed it into the same kind of lance of pure force used in her dispute with Legent Alice, bringing a picture in her mind into focus, making it real with her will.

“Excellent.” Someone shouts after the third projectile in a row explodes high in the air, showering them with nothing more than burnt little bits.

“Charles?” He hears from somewhere inside.

“Lisa?”

“No, Sien. I am reaching out to you through our rings.

“Interesting. I knew Lisa, Brenhar, Lucas and I could do this, do you suppose Tagoni and maybe Nicole could as well?” Charles asked, sounding curious.

“Focus Charles, focus.” Sien pleaded. “We are taking care of the impacts that will hit camp so we can pull back. I wanted to offer you what we are seeing. Perhaps it will help you locate where this is coming from?”

“Oh yeah, the incoming, sorry.” He apologized, sounding distracted. “Got caught up in figuring out how they are propelling it.”

“Charles, please, concentrate.”

“On it, but how did you link to those three so quick?”

“We umm...”

“What is that?” The Unnamed asked when the feel around the enemy camp changes.

“That is adaptation in motion.”

“Adaptation in motion?”

“Yes, this barrage, that word loosely means an ongoing indirect attack, is merely intended to wear them down. I never expected it to do more than keep them tense.”

“Why?”

“To keep them off balance.” He answered. “Theirs is a fragile alliance, a delicate thing. Put the right pressure in the right place and it will fall apart.”

“Sien,” A new voice intruded. “I am sending the Kimer to join the Vales. Once they do, bring Marc into the meeting room you made for this and leave it to him. I need you at the main camp to talk with the army of Emel.”

“Why Lisa?”

“The Kallows can’t have this, ‘artillery’ as Charles called it, I don’t know where he gets these kinds names for things, without some sort of equivalent in the old Donalson.”

“Why?”

“Balance Sien, it, this, is all about balance.”

“Balance?”

“Trust me Sien, please.” Lisa pleaded.

“Ok, I’ll talk to them.”

“And this is where the schism begins.” The Man laughed as he feels the Kimer join the Vales in the easiest and quickest way possible. “The troops will now start being distracted by the joining.”

“What?”

“Listen, feel.” He laughed. “That slight twist you feel, the waver in the shields detecting the projectiles is the carnal distraction of the projectors. The Kimer and the Vales are swapping tongue and spit and traces of Seed Magic to join this fast.”

“And?” The Unnamed asked, confused.

“This was never about the fight. This is about destroying the alliance.”

“How?”

“Simple, for that joining to have worked this soon, they can’t have shielded well. That means the entire camp that is trying to move back, is also being assaulted by all their combined carnality. The floor show is burrowing into their minds and thoughts, making them sluggish and ill coordinated.”

“If this indirect attack with the upright guns won’t work, why do it then?”

“Because it forces our girls to work as one while tiring them and the enemy both.”

“Won’t it teach the enemy to work together as well?”

“Yes, that is part of the point. There are so many of us and we are not used to working as one. There are far fewer of them. The experience we gain is among several gross of us compared to maybe two dozen of them.”

“So while they prepare a place?”

“We prepare a wave to flood it with.”

“Do they have to ummm.” General Emess asked Tagoni. “You know, kiss and that other stuff all right there out in the open like that.” They are with the forward base evacuation which is still underway with no further loss of life thanks to the girls blocking the incoming artillery.

“Unfortunately yes.” Tagoni replied. He can’t help staring as the three Kimer explored three of the Vale in a triangle around the Michelson boy Marc. This is all done under the shelter of the shields they are forming over head, detonating the incoming rounds harmlessly high above them.

“I can um feel them umm...”

“I know general, trust me, I know.” Tagoni laughed nervously. “I was a Techist until Legent Alice decided I needed a change in my life. So I know exactly what you are feeling from them. You have this itch in the back of your mind telling you to join them.”

“I take it you Magists don’t.”

“No General, not at all, we have no itch in the back of our minds from this.”

“Really?” The General asked, noting the slight sweat on Tagoni’s face.

“Really, it’s not in the back at allllll. It’s right here in the front and closing our eyes does not do any good at all.”

“Ouch?”

“Ouch! And oooh!” Tagoni agreed, leading the group they are talking with away from the carnal display protecting them from an unfriendly sky.

“How are they holding up keeping the sky clear Emel?” Lisa asked Sien back in the main camp. They, and a lot of others, are staring in dismay at the display of dancing fire written in the sky.

“Tiring, but they hold. I think they will hold long enough.” Sien replied. “And why do you keep calling me Emel like that?”

“You are the Emel now.”

“Look,” Sien said angrily. “I may be a blood Queen, but we both know I am a pale shadow of those who came before me.”

“So?”

“So?” Sien exclaimed in frustration and anger. “I am here, Bitch! I am doing my duty! What more do you want of me?”

“For you to listen.” Lisa shouted back and the tent started emptying.

“I’m here. I’m listening. Try saying it real slow and I might hear you this time.”

“Slow?” Lisa shouted, as the last of the audience finds somewhere else to be.

“You know,” Sien shouted back, “One word at a time, just us.”

“Fine!” Lisa shouted and a shield appeared lining the room, isolating them from sight and sound.

“Fine.” Sien said seriously and then grins, “We alone now?”

“Yes.” Lisa replied calmly. “No one short of Nicole will be brave enough to disturb us for now.”

“Thank you. Now where are we with these long guns? I spoke to our generals and we have them, but the range on ours is maybe half what they must be doing. They have to be firing from behind the hills on the other side of the river basin or we could see them.”

“Do yours fire with Magic, or use it as an enhancement?”

“No.”

“Are you going back to Emel?”

“No.” Sien admitted.

“Do you have any idea what you plan to do if you somehow live through this?”

“No.”

“I never intended or even envisioned you challenging like that.”

“I know. I know very well. Micah treated me well, considering circumstances anyway. You did what you had to. I was the only tool you had available. By binding me with Micah’s and Nicole’s Seed Magics, you could communicate with us without being caught spying. You had no choice.”

“I’m sorry anyway. I saw big things coming. I saw history in motion.”

“And you had to stop it, you alone. You felt that you alone had to stop it.”

“I started it.” Lisa said, looking down in shame.

“No Lisa,” Sien disagreed, “all you did was bring it on sooner, before either side was ready. You started nothing. That responsibility falls on other shoulders.”

“Is this where the Sync wars resume?”

“After better than half a millennium break?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.” Sien answered sadly. “I believe so.”

“You are sure of this Captain?” The First councilor of Emel asked.

“Yes.” Captain Neall answered firmly. “You saw the vote.”

“I know. I saw it. I checked it. I double checked it, and I still don’t believe it.”

“Apparently what we believe isn’t all that important.”

“Apparently.”

“We will be back in a week or two.” Captain Neall said stepping away. He guided Cinna into the carriage to go meet the train headed to Gahalia. He expected Sien and Micah to be there.

“With our wayward charges?”

“With our wayward charges.” He agreed.

“If they’re still alive?” The councilor mumbled.

“If they’re still alive.” Captain Neall agreed almost silently.

“Three bells worth so far now.” The Man announced, looking at the sky while stroking the temple and cheek of the humbled woman kneeling in front of his chair. She is working his firm erection in her mouth. “Tell our positions to be prepared. The first counter strike will be happening soon. Their point fire base should be empty by now and the forward base should be as well.”

“Have you been watching that shield wall trick?” Land Mother Kilsin asked, hiding her distaste at the public use of his toy.

“Yes I have. In fact there are four groups working on duplicating it already.”

“What will they do first?”

“Not sure, there are several ways they might strike.”

“Why do you do that?” Land Mother Kilsin demanded, staring at the humbled woman. “This is a serious day and you have one of them servicing you?”

“Life must always accompany death my dear Land Mother, always.”

“Ughh.” She grunted, disgusted by the blank stare of his oral toy.

“A few gross of hearts, tell them to be ready to switch loads.”

“Hey Lisa,” Charles asked, child like, walking through her privacy shield with Kandra. He apparently didn’t even notice it because he was so caught up in what he was doing. “Want to see a new trick?”

“Sure.” Lisa answered, startled.

“New trick?” Sien asked, trying not to think about what he had just done. She knew that she probably could not have penetrated Lisa’s shield, and that it would have taken her vast effort if she had been able to. Yet Charles hadn’t even noticed.

“Watch the river basin.” He laughed, turning to it.

“Kandra?” Lisa mouthed silently.

“No idea.” She mouthed back just as silently.

“First, I should tell you that there is a full gross of those long guns.” Charles said, staring at nothing as he focused on something only he can see. “They are the same basic design as your troops have Sien. You should go back. They will need you. But these guns are fired by Magic instead.”

“By Magic?” Lisa asked, unable to follow his logic despite their back channel.

“Pay attention.” Charles repeated. Then they feel it. There is a change in the air. It turns odd as colors begin to fade out over the river, like it was getting dark, but in full daylight. Hearts later the unbound hair of soldiers in camp begins haloing from static as the view across the river looks like a painting. Charles laughed, “Boom.”

“Chaos.” Sien and Lisa hiss together as a bolt of lightning splits the morning, striking just beyond the hills on the far side of the river.

“What in Chaos name was that?” Land Mother Kilsin demanded as the backlash of the lightning strike, and something else, echoes throughout the land within a few leagues of the target.

“Lightning,” The Man laughed, “and efficiently done as well.”

“You said nothing about this happening.”

“It didn’t happen my dear Land Mother.” He laughed, stopping his toy and rising. “It was done. You just felt the first step in the Hearthson’s fall.”

“First step? Fall?”

“Yes.” He answered. “The boy is learning to harness the world, the environment, just as the Emel and our fakes do.”

“Learning? With all he has done?”

“He hasn’t harnessed like this before, just tapped, twisted or twigged. Inform the batteries to switch ammo now.”

“It is already done.” The Unnamed announced, entering. “It is as you expected. The Emel and the Kimer were lancing the shells, not putting up true barriers.”

“Then this will be fun to watch.” He laughed. The woman at his feet knelt, forgotten, waiting for his next order while went on to something more fun to him for now than her humble efforts.

“Ow.” Marc groaned as the intercepted shell exploded normally, but left a dark spot that lingered in the sky and the white room where he was maintaining a map of the camps and shells.

“Ow.” He groaned again on the next one. By the fifth one, the pain had not faded before the next one hit, and it began to build.

“What is that?” Echoed around the camp at the ugly brackish smear building in the sky where the shells were being intercepted. It was spreading along the shields the Vale daughters were maintaining.

“Hey.” Charles shouted at the sky. “I’m trying to see.”

“I don’t think it’s going to answer you Charles.” Kandra joked.

“Begone!” Charles shouted, waving his hand at the darkness while laughing. The sharp crack of lightning split the sky again, then turned, now concentrating on Charles. The Kimer and the Vales felt something pull on them as it struck. Then the world seemed to flare white. Charles’ shields turned hard, then harder, then glass-like before he was finally thrown backwards nearly three fathoms to strike a tree and fall to the ground.

“Oww.” He moaned in incoherent pain, lying there. The ground smoked. His clothes smoked. Most of the shrubbery around him was burned to a crisp. The tree he hit was steaming.

“Drop your sky shields.” Lisa and Kandra shouted nearly as one, recognizing the dark splotches hanging in the air as the source of the attack.

“What in chaos name was that?” Sien asked in shock, unknowingly echoing the thoughts of many others on both sides.

“Kandra, get him out of here.” Lisa ordered. “Sien, with me. The rest of you scatter and try for the shells independently. Do not coordinate closely.”

“Yes ma’am.” Many voices echo as Kandra simply picks up the smaller Charles in her arms and walks back toward the main camp carrying him.

“It’s just us now Lisa.” Sien said several gross of hearts later. They watched the clumsy efforts of the others to intercept the still incoming shells, and the splotches of black on the ground where they strike when missed. “Now what is this?”

“A disaster and an answer.” Lisa said, staring at the cloudless sky.

“How so?”

“This, all of this, has been about balance.” Lisa said, looking at the sky. “Someone knew what Charles would do, more or less. They had an answer ready.”

“So either they...he...can predict the future.”

“Or this has all happened before.” Lisa said, turning to her.

“And this shall all happen again.” Sien finished while turning pale.

“I am going to show you a new trick.”

“Why?”

“I need you to reach into the very earth. You’ll need Micah to stabilize you doing it.”

“He’s not here.”

“Then be careful.” Lisa said as she began, giving her once enemy, now friend, a look acknowledging her pain and her loss.

“I will.” Sien answered and then began reaching out as Lisa showed her into the very earth.

“So I have to ask.” Land Mother Kilsin stated. “Why did you only want three of those shells for each station? I felt what it did when he tried that lightning trick again. Why not keep bombarding with that?”

“Because as unpalatable as the truth is, every question has an answer if you are willing to look far enough for it.” He answered. “He showed them where to look before he fell. Now they will find it. On the morrow they will attempt a crossing, and our barrage will end soon.”

“Why?”

“Patien...”

“What was that?” Land Mother Kilsin demand when a pulse of something wrong-feeling crawls along her nerves just before thunder cracks in the distance.

“The next step. Fortunately, the innovator is taken care of. All they can do now is refine.”

“Innovator?”

“Yes, those shells were only to take care of the Hearthson, which I felt them do.”

“Take care of how?”

“He has been poisoned in a way.”

“Poisoned?”

“Yes, well, polluted would be a better way to put it.” The Man laughed. “Every time he repeats himself it will hurt him, every repeat attempt at something will hurt him, even doing research to prevent it will hurt him.”

“And it eventually shuts his mind down.” The Unnamed laughed while joining them again.

“All of this to neutralize one boy?”

“Yes Land Mother.” The Unnamed agreed. “What that means is that from this point onward we can predict everything they can do, no more surprises.”

“And if you can predict your enemy, you have already beaten them.” Land Mother Kilsin laughed.

“Precisely.” The Unnamed agreed. “Our positions will be abandoned in the next eighth bell as our troops shift to the hill crest fortifications.”

“Good.” The Man stated. “Now that they know how to look at them, we don’t want our troops anywhere near those guns while firing those shells.”

“Why not?”

“That dried goo is not healthy for Magists, and not really good for Techists.” He answered. “Think of it as ink. It stains the air, trapping bits of Magic and then driving the Magic back where it came from. So if they keep firing them, the other side will eventually be able to trace them back.”

“Think Land Mother.” The Unnamed said, turning to her. “What would happen if that same lightning were to strike during firing?”

“Oh.”

“This was a trap.” Lisa announced angrily.

“What was?” Tagoni asks.

“This, all of this. From the leak about the fake blood queens onward, perhaps even before, it was all a trap.”

“For what?”

“For Charles, and I walked straight into it.”

“Straight into what?”

“This.” Lisa grunted. “Here. Now we are concentrated and committed to here and now, in this place, and I have no idea what he will do next.”

“He?”

“The Emel call him Zandrus, others call him Ethan, or the prince of lies, a borrowed title if I ever heard one. He has done this before. He has been here before, not here in this place, but in these circumstances, with another Charles and another me.”

“So now what then?”

“We wait.”

“Won’t that let this theoretical him take the initiative?”

“We don’t have any choice. So far he has been ready a step ahead of us. He has not been a step ahead, but ready a step ahead. So far all they have done is match us. We need a new Dance Card.”

“Are you one of the gun people?” Nicole asked the soldier in the Donalson, now Emel, guard uniform standing beside one of upright, wagon mounted guns.

“Yes.” He answered, looking at her closely as though puzzled by something.

“Can you show me how it fires please?”

“And you are?”

“My name is Nicole.” She answered smiling. “I am General Tagoni’s wife.”

“I’m sorry ma’am,” He answered, recognizing her now, “but we are not a member of the Ericson Alliance and these are secret. I was assigned to guard this unit until the draft horses get back from watering.”

“It’s ok soldier.” A new voice interjected; the expectation of obedience is implicit.

“Hearth Father?” The soldier asked, surprised as he recognizes Micah.

“Micah?” Nicole asked, looking at him in surprise as well. She is surprised that he is there at all, and by how he somehow looks older despite looking the same. “I thought that, from what Sien said, you were going home.”

“I was.” Micah admitted glumly, though he smiled in an odd way, “But I was reminded that we are the sum of our choices.”

“I know the feeling.” Nicole replied smiling back. Sure now that it is his eyes that changed. They are older and sadder, yet for the first time since she met him, they contain hope.

“She is cleared for whatever she needs to know.” Micah ordered. “She is, not her husband, not the alliance, just her. I know why she is here. I know more or less what she is doing. Techist or not, the Lady Nicole is an Emel just like our Lady Sien. This is a family thing for them.”

“Yes sir.” The soldier answered unhappily.

“Gather your crew. Take the gun to a far field where it can be fired at the enemy.”

“Yes sir.”

“She will ask you a lot of questions. Do your best to answer them.”

“Thank you Micah.” Nicole said gratefully.

“I hope you find the answers you seek Nicole.” Micah told her sadly. “I hope you find them and I hope you find them in time.”

“I hope so to.” Nicole replied to Micah’s back as he walked toward the main camp. Even her distracted eyes can see the difference. Micah has always had a bit of laughter and sadness to him. Now she sees neither of those. This is a different Micah than the one she knows. This one is not just a man however, this one is a true Hearth Father. She fears she will miss her friend.

“Are you ok?” Land Mother Michelson asks Brenhar on the balcony where they are eating lunch.

“Yes mother.” Brenhar laughs, rising. “Just an over full bladder.”

“I am surprised there is room left for you to drink anything.” Land Mother Michelson laughs back looking at the huge bulge Brenhar’s belly has become.

“So am I some days.” Brenhar replies grinning. Then she grunts in surprise while she grabs the table for support as she wets herself badly.

“What?”

“See, I told you.” Brenhar laughs. “Baby just grew a tiny bit, so now I have to pee almost as I drink.”

“Taunna.” Land Mother Michelson yells, calling for the maid serving them. “Healers and doctors now.”

“It is nothing.” Brenhar says grimly. “I just should have gone sooner.”

“Nonsense, unless of course your bladder holds as much as a milk bucket.” She answers grimly pointing to the mess around her.

“I’m fine Moth...” Brenhar starts to reply, then collapses as a slow moving wave of pain starts in her upper abdomen moving down.

“Thank you Kandra. I’m fine now.” Charles said softly as his eyes opened. “Can I have a glass of water please?”

“Just a moment.” Kandra replied, relieved to see him wake.

“Unipolar quantum cascade event detected.” The ancient capital building of Massoon announced in the council and war chambers. The occupants were startled and had no idea what it meant.

Hearts later, “Heisenberg compensation field anomaly detected.” Is echoed by Massoon and every capitol building within a hundred leagues, terrifying workers who have no idea what is happening. Even as they are scrambling to find out, more alerts are sent out.

“He woke up, asked for a glass of water and when you brought it to him he was gone?” Lisa asked Kandra.

“Yes ma’am. He was there. I went to the cooler for water and when I turned around he was gone. At first I thought he had gone for walk.” Kandra replied. “I asked the sentries and none of them had seen him leave.”

“Don’t worry too much.” Lisa reassured her. “Can you lower your shields for a moment please, I want to check something.”

“Ok.” Kandra answered, lowering them.

“Thank you.” Lisa said with smile and Kandra’s world blinked for a moment.

“What did you do?” She asked moments later, staring at Lisa.

“You feel that tingle in the back of your mind, an awareness?”

“Yes.” Kandra answered, surprised. It felt new, but she recognized it as well. It felt like she had never noticed it before even though it had been there.

“That’s how Charles knows where you are, and how you know where he is.”

“So enough being lazy and go back to my sitting duties.” Kandra laughed with an odd look.

“Something like that.” Lisa laughed back nervously. She turned to leave, hiding a grimace before Kandra could see it; she hoped.

“Lucas? Tagoni?” Lisa said, entering the main command tent.

“Here.” Lucas answered from a large mirror used as a display table in one corner.

“I need locations on the Legents.”

“Which ones?”

“All of them.”

“Why?” Tagoni asked.

“Because the sync wars are about to kick off again.” Lisa replied with an odd tone while looking around them. “I would have thought they would have shown up for that.”

“On it.” Lucas replied with an odd tone of his own.

“What happened?” Lisa asked around the cold lump in her stomach.

“They think Brenhar just lost the baby.” Lucas answered sadly. “Her water broke. She bled for a while and now she is wracked by pain every few gross of hearts. The baby’s heart sounds are erratic. They keep losing them and then they come back.”

“How many forts along is she?” Lisa asked as scenes the Legents shared with her came back to mind. She “remembers” a world overrun with Techist things. A world fascinated with virginity and promiscuity in equal measure. A place where the virginal were made to look experienced and the experienced made to look virginal.

“Nineteen forts.” Lucas answered, disturbed by the emotions playing across Lisa’s face. “She has a dozen or more to go, so we are going to lose the baby.”

“If only it were so simple.” Lisa said sadly, eyes not focused on when and where she was. In her mind’s eye, she watched the scenes gifted by the Legents. She saw young girls, even younger than she is, being pregnant. She sees them carrying to term and giving birth in three dozen or so weeks, say eighteen or nineteen forts.

“Simple?” Lucas asked, aghast to hear that tone about losing a child, any child, especially one as important as Brenhar’s.

“Those pains are called contractions, a cruder form of our normal birthing convulsions. They are far more painful, unfortunately.” Lisa replied, seeing something in her mind’s eye that disturbed her, “Tell the mothers to expect an heir within bells.”

“What?” Lucas asked, puzzled.

“Lisa.” Kandra said from a mirror. “I found him. He is playing with one of the long guns of the Emel like we think the Kallows have. Nicole is there, apparently Micah is around somewhere. He ordered them to answer her questions. When Charles showed up, they began working on it together. He has a theory about how they are firing them.

“Then there is time.” Lisa sighed with equal parts relief and resignation. “Distract him Kandra. Keep him distracted. There is nothing you can do now more important.”

“Why?” She asked puzzled.

“Find a quiet spot, distract him as woman to boy. I need another day and that means keeping him distracted until dark.”

“Is that an order?” Kandra asked frustrated at the order and that Lisa refused to explain.

“I’m sorry, and I truly am.” Lisa said with visible pain in her eyes. “More than you can imagine, but yes, that is an order.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kandra replied, stepping away angrily, breaking the connection.

“Lisa?” Tagoni asked, concerned.

“Tell the troops to take water, food and personal weapons only.” Lisa replied, moving the fallback position marker on the map back several leagues. “And to borrow from my former Land Mother, ‘I suggest they run.’”

“What? Who?”

“I’m sorry Tagoni. I’m sorry Lucas. I failed.”

“Failed what?” Lucas asked.

“To see.”

“To see what?”

“To foresee this.” Lisa admitted, taking a chair. “They warned me. They showed me! And still I failed to see.”

“See what?”

“You know I don’t tell everyone everything, right?” Lisa asked with a weary grin. Then she began speaking, telling them of the things that kept her up, alone, long into the night.

“How goes the movement to the new forward bases?” the Man asked the Unnamed.

“Well. A half bell and we will be in position.”

“Excellent.” He said, hiding his grimace inside at the news from the larger capitols that they had detected the activation of quantum weaponry.

“She called them contractions.” Land Mother Michelson told the doctors examining Brenhar.

“This is the way it used to be.” Legent Kara said, startling them as she was simply there.

“Back before the fall.” Legent Amina added.

“This was normal?” The Doctor asked.

“Yes.” Legent Wilhelm answered fading in. “How far apart now?”

“Fifteen minutes.” Legent Kara answered.

“How long do you think.”

“Given I haven’t attended a natural and normal birth in so long, I am guessing, but I would say four to six hours.”

“Minutes? Hours.” Someone around the table asks.

“Sorry, call it six gross hearts for the contraction spacing. They will get closer together until the birth.” Legent Amina replied, eyes far away, “Two or three Bells until she gives birth.”

“Will it be healthy?” Land Mother Michelson asked with concern.

“Yes.” Legent Wilhelm answered for Amina and Kara who both have tears in their eyes.

“He found the Q E D streams.” Legent Jeff said appearing. “Good news here?”

“Very good.”

“Now if only we could separate these events.”

“She has finally seen.” Legent Arie said joining them.

“Who has seen what?” Brenhar asked.

“The Alpha and the Omega.” Legent Amina intoned.

“The beginning and the end.” Legent Kara continued.

“Can you stop him if you have to?” Brenhar asked, interrupting them.

“Yes.” Legents Wilhelm and Jeff answered as one.

“Without killing him?”

“No.” Legents Amina, Kara and Arie answered as one.

“Why?” Land Mother Michelson asked, not sure who they are talking about.

“Because he was just touching on what Magic really is.”

“Was?”

“He isn’t looking anymore.”

“Why?”

“A very high level tactician was making the jump to true strategist when he discovered he was becoming a father. That process took over instead.”

“He knows?”

“He knows.” Legent Amina answered with a gentle smile. “His bindings on you tell him about you.”

“He has found that place in us all where our love for children lives.” Legent Kara said.

“He acts now as a tactician does to protect his child,” Legent Arie said next, “not as a strategist would.”

“He wants the fighting to stop.” Legent Wilhelm said sadly.

“He wants no more war and that can only mean one thing in his eyes.” Legent Jeff said sadly.

“No more armies, no more war?” Land Mother Michelson asked, aghast.

“Precisely.”

“How many?” Brenhar asked.

“The Kallows, their allies, your alliance and most of the army of the Emel.” Legent Jeff answers.

“How many?” Brenhar repeated, undaunted.

“Ninety four thousand total approximately.” Legent Wilhelm answered.

“Then this war, this fight, all of this,” Brenhar asked, “Lisa did it all in order to get Charles away from me, to prevent him being here now?”

“To prevent him from being here yes, now, no.” Legent Jeff answered. “She knew he would make the jump, even had a decent idea of when it would happen.”

“She manipulated and was in turn manipulated to have this war now. She wanted to ensure that when we clean up the mess from resuming the Sync wars, they aren’t anywhere near here so your child would be safe no matter our mood.”

“Almost a hundred thousand people, just over half the militaries of this continent, all sacrificed to put one boy in one particular place at a particular time?”

“It was critical.”

“All to ensure...” Brenhar was saying when another contraction hit.

“All to ensure he grew up or died away from you so that your child could be born safely.” Legent Amina answered once the contraction passed.

“She had no idea the child would be here this soon.” Legent Kara said, answering the unasked yet obvious question in Brenhar’s eyes.

“Massoon, self diagnostic status.” The Man asked in the war room of the outlying capitol.

“Self status erratic.” It replied, voice edged with static.

“Clarify.”

“Massoon Gestalt data corruption detected.”

“Expand.”

“Heisenberg quanta and anomalous flux state detected in data streams.”

“Source.”

“River conflict area.”

“Type of attack?”

“Q E D disentanglement of quanta stream via sustained cascade.” It replied brokenly.

“Wave shields online, begin archiving yourself offsite.”

“Wave shields are already online and offsite backup already in progress, results erratic since cascade.”

“Since cascade?”

“Gestalt data destabilization detected half an hour ago. Currently experiencing Gestalt breakdown, external data hookups are two point one magnitudes above normal data loss rates, and rising.”

“How long until Gestalt failure?”

“Two hours, forty one minutes at current rate.”

“Local hard backup.”

“Local crystalline storage matrix breakdown detected.”

“Why are you doing this?” Charles asked Kandra, breaking their kiss.

“It’s fun.” Kandra laughed as she used muscles inside to ensure he felt every bit of himself in her and enjoyed it. The distraction worked...almost.

“Why?” Charles asked again, this time pulling out of her while pushing her away.

“What?” She asked as something told her she was in trouble.

“Why?” He asked again as he gathered his clothes.

“I’m doing my job.” She answered in fear, something told her that she was in big trouble.

“Your job? What job? Handling me? Distracting me?”

“Yes.” Kandra admitted, not seeing any point in denying it.

“You’re done, you can go.” He told her dismissively as he dressed.

“No.” She answered.

“Go.” He ordered with a casual sweep of his arm in her direction.

“Gummph.” She grunted as the wave of force struck. When her eyes focused, she found herself fathoms away from him. Around her trees were missing bark, the ground was bare of grass, and steam mixed with smoke hung in the air.

“What do you want from me?” She demanded despite being more afraid than she has ever been. The damage around her shouted what she already knew. A moon ago an attack of this power would have left not much of a body, likely not even bones.

“I said you can go.” Charles replied, tucking his shirt in.

“No! I can’t.” She answered.

“Yes.” He replied frustrated. “Yes you can.”

“I have my orders.”

“Begone.” Charles ordered firmly.

“Chaos.” Kandra whispered in shock because the order had carried no weight in her mind. Instead, she felt the air around her change. Her hastily assembled shield formed an unimaginably short fraction of a heart before the lightning bolt struck. Where normal lightning strikes and is gone, this one went on and on and on. It seemed to go on for dozens of hearts, though only three actually passed.

“Secondary cascade event detected.” Massoon intoned in broken words, proving both the strength of whatever happened and how far gone Massoon was.

“What kind?” The Man asked unnecessarily.

“Static field manipulation for polar reversal via resonant tunneling.”

“Shit!” He muttered and sent for a runner.

“Kandra!” The shout broke into her world. Her eyes opened gingerly, everything hurt and something wet ran over her lips.

“Stay still, don’t move.” Someone ordered and she was happy to oblige.

“What happened?” She asked as her eyes opened a few dozen hearts later. The sight that greeted her was bizarre. She lay in a perfect circle of preserved dirt. Around her was single fathom of good dirt. Around that was three fathoms of soil not merely charred, but turned glass like.

“She’s alive?” One of the Generals asked in shock, staring at the nude woman still showing arousal that could be faintly smelled even over the burnt and charred everything.

“All the mirrors in camp are dead.” Someone shouted, joining the growing crowd around Kandra’s circle.

“How?” Someone else asked.

“Could have been worse.” Lisa said.

“How?” Kandra asked, shocked. She saw Lucas and Tagoni looking as shocked as she is.

“He might not have held back.”

“Held back?” Kandra demanded and then blinked at her own temerity.

“Can you walk?” Lisa asked.

“Yes.”

“Good. I need you in the command tent as soon as you can.”

“Excuse me?” Kandra asked, staring at the destruction around her. She is unable to wrap her head around having lived.

“I suggest a really large mug of hot chocolate, fortified of course.” Lisa laughed.

“What is...” Kandra is asking when some sense she can’t describe screams danger. As her hand goes up to form a shield over her, she notices Lisa doing the same. It feels like it did before, the same moment of something wrong, then an ongoing explosion that won’t stop. Only this time she isn’t the target. The real target this time is a league away, on the far side of the river valley from them. Even at that distance it is the second loudest, second strongest, second vastest thing she has ever experienced. In the distance over a hundred lightning bolts split the sky, lancing downward to strike as one. They actually feel it through the ground.

“Yes.” Lisa said a moment later in response to an incoherent sound from Kandra. “You lived through that. Split among a full gross of guns it destroyed them all, every one, yet you survived, alone.”

“How?” Kandra whispered, staring at the still shimmering ground around her.

“Get dressed, have chocolate, meet me in the command tent when you can.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kandra replied. She decided to try cooling the glass-like ground around her with a gentle breeze. Ignoring the stares of the people watching, she starts in.

“Take your time.” Lisa said gently and turned away.

“That takes care of the long guns.” The Unnamed said, blinking.

“That it does.” The Man answered, staring at the sky. “You thought I was joking about what was going to happen?”

“No, exaggerating.”

“And now?” He asked.

“Chaos.” She hissed. “What was that?”

“Something you aren’t ready to think about yet.”

“Still, half a gross of guns per strike is...”

“No, the first one was closer in, concentrated. I think it had a single target.”

“Then someone just died.”

“I agree.” He smiled.

“The contractions are four gross hearts apart now.” Legent Kara informed the healers and doctors attending Brenhar. “When they hit about half a gross it will be time to get ready.”

“How goes the evacuation?” Lisa asked, walking into the command tent.

“Slow, they keep wanting to take stuff with them.” Tagoni answered with a grim shake of his head. “And more than half have volunteered to stay behind to slow the Kallows, glorious end and all that.”

“Not good.” Lisa replied softly. “There is no glory to be found here, just death.”

“How long do we have?”

“Until Brenhar gives birth.”

“Then what happens?” Kandra asked, joining them. She offered Lisa a mug of hot chocolate, fortified like her own.

“Thank you.” Lisa replied, taking it with a sigh. “Then this all ends. He cleans up this mess.”

“Cleans?” Tagoni asked shuddering.

“Yes, I believed that I still had moons to go and that the Kallows were not a significant problem once Donalson went down. The Kallows have help, old help, but he won’t become directly involved. He can’t.”

“And?”

“One moment.” Lisa answered, concentrating for a moment. Then the world became a white room for them again, just as she had done earlier. Lisa stood facing Kandra, Lucas, Tagoni, Sien, but to everyone else’s surprise, not Nicole. “This is the hard part.”

“Hard part?” Lucas asked, annoyed. “I was talking with some people.”

“Sorry.” Lisa replied. She smiled as the room becomes an overview of the camp and surrounding lands with them standing in mid air.

“What the?” Is hissed with a lot of echo, and some choice words.

“Here we are.” Lisa says as a large area shades slightly blue. Then another area shades red, “And there they are. Notice the concentration just behind the ridges on the far side of the river valley.”

“I see.” Tagoni said ‘walking’ over to look.

“They knew about what Charles would do, and about when.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Tagoni said, ‘walking’ further over to look at the enemy rear positions.

“Neither do I. Only half a dozen of the long guns were manned when Charles struck. Now nearly a gross of gun crews and sets of faux Blood Queens who were using magic to fire the guns, are along the ridges ready to cover the crews and squads.”

“This doesn’t look good.”

“It’s not. They have another set of guns further back, waiting for us to charge across the river. They will have time to use them because each of those sets, they range from three to six women in a set, are nearly as strong or stronger than a Kimer. Their raw power is less than Sien or one of the Vale. Yet unlike the Vale, but like the Kimer and Sien, they have mental attacks as part of their power. Only Sien, Kandra and myself are stronger than any one group on mental or physical attacks.”

“So there are just under a gross of them?” Lucas asked, pointing at the ridge. “And they can all turn minds like the Blood Lords?”

“Yes, but to a certain extent it can be blocked.” Lisa answered. “That also doesn’t account for the secondary force behind them.”

“Shielding the mental pulls strength we will need for normal shields during the attack.”

“Exactly.” Lisa agree. “We hold the high ground, the strong ground, and the balance of numbers are nearly all ours.”

“Yet we are trapped.” Tagoni said, surveying the whole scene.

“What is Charles going to do next?” Kandra asked.

“I don’t know.” Lisa admitted.