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Chapter 18

  Once Somonik reported that the Assembly had gathered, The Six of Hilia appeared on the dais in an outward-facing circle around the Truthstone.

  The first impression they made was as the most heavily armed squad most there had ever seen. The two unicorns wore full plate barding with huge blades in front of their horns, razor-sharp shoes that covered their hooves completely, and racks of various projectiles on their backs, ready for launching by Movement. The dragons wore full steel chain mail with plate gauntlets, great dragon-sized swords strapped to their sides, quivers of eight-foot bolts on their chests, crossbows and racks of smaller projectiles strapped to their backs, and each held a gleaming steel lance that was half their respective length. Mark and Talia wore full plate armor, along with their swords, and they wore smaller versions of the projectile racks on their backs. Their helmets were shaped to mate with their crowns and lock them in place.

  The second impression was made by their manner. All traces of youthful naiveté and frolic were gone, replaced by a hard, confident appraisal of their audience that made many there feel like a recruit being inspected by a sergeant. Their stances seemed relaxed, yet ready to burst into action instantly, and they wore their burdens of arms and armor with the absolute ease and comfort of long familiarity.

  Somonik allowed himself and the Assembly a moment of suitable length to appraise their new appearances, then he announced them and opened the meeting.

  “Prince Mark and Princess Talia of Hilia, Keys to The Just Alliance, with their companions in The Six of Hilia.

  “We shall now come to order. This meeting of the national leaders, high commanders, and ranking spellcasters of The Just Alliance is now in session.”

  “Thank you, Somonik, and thank you all for attending on short notice.” Mark announced. He paused a moment, for dramatic effect as much as to decide how he would proceed.

  “Our entire world is in upheaval, and billions are affected. Yet today, a single person of greatness and courage gave forth his supreme effort, and with it, he has given us the means to achieve a swift victory. Quewanak the Eldest, Master of The Dream, is not here. Instead he rests while his body struggles for life. He could not have achieved his triumphant act without the unstinting efforts of some of the finest Healers we have, for it required the full of their skills to keep Quewanak alive while he gave his gift.

  “He has many talents, and the greatest of these is a nearly complete awareness of everyone and everything on Kellaran. He found a way to pass on that immense body of knowledge in the most useful form he could give it, and in only twelve hours, and he gave us a way to develop that knowledge and our ability to use it to the fullest.

  “He took us within his dream, and there he recreated the entirety of Kellaran, with almost everyone and everything on it as they are in reality. And there we fought this war, over and over again. While twelve hours passed for you, we have waged this war for seventy-seven and a half years of unremitting battle. We’ve lost this war in dozens of different ways, but we’ve won it in dozens of ways as well. And in all of those scenarios, we faced far more difficult conditions than we do now.

  “We have detailed knowledge and revolutionary methods that will allow us to win the war with Zarkog within three days, and if things go perfectly, we can have it all wrapped up in thirty-six hours.

  “Perhaps the only detrimental side-effect of Quewanak’s training is this; in order that we learn independently and without depending on others with more experience, none of the senior leaders or commanders of The Just Alliance were represented in our training exercises. Thus, we’re familiar with most of your subordinates below the rank of general or admiral, and we know exactly how they’ll react in a crisis or when faced with hardship and challenge, but we don’t have that knowledge of any of you.

  “You’ll have to trust us to know what we’re doing, and we’ll have to trust you to be able to carry out your parts in our plan.

  “Before we discuss that, we should hear a report of our present military situation as its developed over the last twelve hours.”

  Yazadril appeared before him and bowed to the Assembly. “Since Zarkog abandoned his pursuit of you, he has sent occasional skirmishes against our population centers. While more substantial than his initial probes of our defenses, they are still comparatively small, and can be counted as acts of psychological warfare, more so than as acts of conquest.

  “Our best psionics have been unable to locate Zarkog, and he is not personally participating in the attacks.

  “Venak has thus far remained neutral. They are frantically fortifying their border, since their Wards remain down, but none have ventured forth from there to make war for either side. Not even the dragons and Sylvan that Zarkog has there have taken part in any attacks, so it remains uncertain whether they still follow him, or whether they now report to Renem directly, or to someone else, since there is some evidence that Renem may be dead. On the other hand, they take no particular action to impede defectors of all types from fleeing into Thon. Almost a quarter million have defected to The Just Alliance so far, and while that is still an insignificant fraction of their population, those numbers continue to increase.

  “Those of our peoples who are not facing Zarkog’s attackers at any given time send mobile forces to assist those who are, and the rest proceed with further fortifications of their defenses, and the provision of non-combat support.”

  “What are our total losses, and Zarkog’s?” Mark asked.

  “We have lost less than one per million of our citizens, and none within Xervia. We have lost between three and four per million of our military forces, while Zarkog has lost between five and six per million of his population, the entirety of which can be considered military, most of them in the battle over his hall.”

  “So, the facts that you’re reporting in such a honey-coated manner are that some eight or nine thousand of our people have been killed, and about the same number of our fighters, many in the most horrifying manner that Sylvan minds can devise. Zarkog has lost about twenty-three thousand. I assume about ten times as many have been wounded on both sides, and about half of those seriously?”

  “You assume correctly.”

  There was a pause.

  “And?” Mark prompted.

  “Pardon me?”

  “You’re going to have to adjust your thinking, Yazadril.” Mark sternly told him. “I find your report to be almost completely lacking in tactically and strategically relevant detail. I’m asking for a professional military report, and you’re treating me like a child.”

  “Fine. Here.” Yazadril stated, and thrust such a huge collection of facts into Mark’s mind that he was sure the young man would have to take a few minutes to absorb it all. He was somewhat chagrined to find how irritated he was at the sharp rebuke, being unused to the experience, particularly when he realized after a moment that it was fully deserved.

  Mark accepted his report effortlessly, then nodded. “All right, listen up!” he called, then was interrupted.

  “Caution!” Ria snapped in the Link as she manifested, while Talia said;

  “Hold, my love. This is not a dream, and that is not the best way to proceed among these honored leaders.”

  Mark regarded her for a moment, then turned back to Yazadril.

  He considered the ancient elf, then went to one knee and bowed to him. “Honored Yazadril.” he said as he straightened, but remained on one knee. “I have said that I should not be directly obeyed as Key to The Just Alliance, except for during the most pressing and dire of circumstances, and only then if I have unique and crucial knowledge of how to proceed that cannot be effectively communicated to everyone who needs to know it in a short enough time for it to be most effective. That is presently the case.

  “You were chosen as Supreme Commander of the militaries of The Just Alliance because you were the most qualified candidate available at that time. That is no longer the case.

  ??
?Honored Yazadril, and honored members of The Assembly of The Just Alliance, I therefore most respectfully suggest and request that you confer upon me the authority to command our alliance for the next five days, or until Zarkog has been completely defeated, whichever comes first.”

  There was a long pause, and a certain tension built in the room.

  “You ask for command over the entirety of The Just Alliance, and not just command of our military?” Yazadril finally asked.

  “I do. I may need the assistance of persons or the use of resources which are not presently under the command of the military.”

  “I see. And if you fail to defeat Zarkog within five days?”

  “Then the accuracy of the Eldest’s simulations is far less than we believe it to be, which would render inaccurate any plans based on it. But I am certain that such is not the case. By my vow on the Truthstone of Falgaroth, I am certain that we can achieve victory in three days, for the simple reason that we’ve done it several times already, and under far more difficult circumstances. I only ask for five days as a prudent margin against the unexpected, and if I cannot achieve it by then, I will gladly relinquish command to you, or to whoever this Assembly should choose for the responsibility.”

  “How would this victory be won?” Somonik asked. “And at what cost? I realize your plan must be complex indeed if it is more practical to assume command than to take the time to explain it, but still, some summarization must be possible.”

  “It is a five layered assault.” Mark answered, confidently and decisively.

  “First and foremost, we must end Zarkog’s terrorist attacks on our citizens, and do so in such a convincing manner as to give him pause. He must be made to reconsider the practicality of attacking us.

  “Second, we will convince many of Zarkog’s followers to abandon his cause by means of a display of force that is obviously beyond anything Zarkog could match.

  “Third, we will call Zarkog out to personal combat and defeat him. If these three parts of the plan are successful, that will be all that’s necessary. Zarkog will be punished for his crimes. At that point one of us will assume the Lordship of Serminak. After Zarkog’s punishment, if he is allowed to live, he will be forced to swear to justice on the Truthstone. At that point it may be wisest to restore him to Lordship of Serminak, though he would be subject to the decrees of the Assembly of The Just Alliance. The reason for restoring him to power is that many of the Sylvan and Dark Dragons feel a strong personal loyalty and admiration for him, contrary to our expectations, and restoring him to power would help to ensure their loyalty to the Alliance. Of course, we will also begin swearing every one of them on the Truthstone, until all of them are bound to justice.

  “Fourth, we will turn as many of his commanders as we can, starting with his most senior officers, by Compelling them to swear Osbald’s Oath on one of the portable Truthstones. We will actually do this before initiating steps two and three. If those two steps are unsuccessful, we will foment civil war among the forces of Serminak, and thereby curtail much of their ability to wage war against us. With many of their commanders on our side, whether that support is overt or covert, we will have a much easier time in bringing the rest of them to heel.

  “And finally, if none of that works, we will attack Serminak with an all-out assault, using everything we can bring to bear against them, and take complete control of everyone and everything there. It would cost us a third of our military, and result in the deaths of half of the population of Serminak, but we will win, and quickly, and without exposing our nations, homes, and non-combatants to the destruction of such a huge conflict.

  “And I’d like to point out that it’s not merely explaining our plans in full that would take too long if I don’t have command, it’s explaining and enacting many of the smaller aspects of it. For instance, I have a long list of personnel who will be immediately promoted, and a few who will be demoted, and many who will be re-assigned to duties that they are better suited to. My reasons for these changes are based on years of simulated experience, but the truth of the matter is that the way those people behaved in the simulations is based on the Eldest’s assessment of them. And I trust his assessments. I don’t have time to explain in detail why some twenty thousand individuals should be assigned to different duties. Nor do I have the patience for it, to be honest. My eagerness to get on with what we have to do is greater with every passing moment.”

  Again there was a long and rather tense silence as his words were considered.

  “All right.” Yazadril finally nodded. “I will endorse your proposal. Fully and without reservation.”

  “Thank you.” Mark answered, and stood.

  “Who would speak now?” Somonik asked in the sudden hubbub that followed. “Chieftain Tokibimina, Spokesperson for The Association of Oceania.”

  “If we choose to refuse the Key, what will we do?” the old woman asked as she stood, a touch of derision in her voice. “I have heard nothing that makes me believe that any of you have a viable alternative to his proposal. The only other course that has been proposed with any seriousness involves fighting a very long defensive war, and relying on the tactical advantage that such a defensive stance conveys. But the devastation to our peoples and their properties from a war of that style would be hideous, and it would have little guarantee of success. Oceania is particularly poorly suited to such an effort, and there is little that can be done to change that. Meanwhile the demons are closer to us with every passing moment.

  “I tell you, Oceania stands with Prince Mark. He is truly Key to The Just Alliance. Key to the Nexus. His is the voice of destiny.

  “Let us put it to a vote. His proposal should pass unanimously, since any who’d vote against it is a shortsighted and small-minded fool. At the very worst, we’ll just be back in this same situation five days from now. But I believe in him, and in his companions. I trust that he will lead us to a great victory.”

  “I’ll second that, every word of it!” Overlord Senchak called exuberantly as Tokibimina resumed her seat.

  “Who would speak now?” Somonik asked after a moment, during which many of the Assembly exchanged quiet words with those nearby. “Tithian, Speaker for The Senate of The People of Morning.”

  “The People of Morning stand with Prince Mark.” she declared.

  “As does Verzaclon!” Emeroth called. “I could give him my throne right now, and none of my people would disagree!”

  “Thon stands with the Key!” Osbald loudly declared.

  A moment later the many calling voices blended into an enthusiastic roar of approval.

  “Who would speak now?!” Somonik eventually yelled, loudly and insistently enough to restore order, and a moment passed while everyone looked around to see if any would argue against Mark’s plan. None did.

  “Then I ask you, are we agreed that we will enact Prince Mark’s proposal, granting him supreme command of our militaries and the power to act by emergency decree in any of our nations’ affairs, for a period of five days, or until we have achieved victory over Zarkog and ended the threat of war between the peoples of Kellaran?”

  The response was enthusiastic enough to be deafening.

  “Let the record show that all have agreed.” Somonik pronounced when the din had died down a bit, but his pronouncement only triggered another round of cheering.

  Mark found himself grinning, and wiping away an unexpected tear or two, shed for the power of his emotion in that moment.

  “All right, let’s have some order!” he finally called. “We’ve got a lot to do, and the faster we can do it, the better off we’ll be. I said we could achieve victory in thirty-six hours, but we’re going to see how many hours we can shave off that estimate!

  “The first thing we’re going to teach you is better use of our available magic, and better protection for our spell-casters. And everything we’re about to reveal must be considered absolutely most secret information. This
must be stressed to each of your subordinates, since millions of us will need to know it, yet if Zarkog finds out what we’re up to the results could be disastrous.

  “The important thing is the sharing and concentration of power. If a thousand wizards all personally take part in a battle, every one of them is vulnerable to attack. But if they choose the best fighter among them, and the rest use their power and ability remotely to help that one person in their fight, only that one needs to be exposed to danger. The rest can remain hidden or dispersed.

  “There are four methods by which this can be done.

  “First, the support wizards can directly cast spells to a distant location, as the Hilian elves did to assist us over Kletiuk, and they will be much more effective in doing so for having access to the battle wizard’s on-scene perception of the situation, as opposed to casting to a remote location by projecting your consciousness there as one would do in preparation for Translocation.

  “Second, the support wizards can use what we’ve come to refer to as ‘push’ type spells to pass some of their power to their battle wizard for his use in the spells he’s casting. This is quite common, particularly among the elves.

  “Third, the battle wizard can use ‘pull’ spells to draw some of the support wizards’ power. Push and pull type spells only differ as to whether the contributor of the power or the receiver of it casts the spell and controls the flow of power. They both share a crucial limitation, that being the amount of raw power the recipient can hold without suffering from it.

  “We’ve developed a fourth method that doesn’t share that limitation. We call these ‘draw’ spells. Talia and I developed the basics of the method to cast each other’s power. A Link is cast between the support corps and the battle wizard, and the fighter is given direct control of the others’ power. In essence, when the battle wizard casts a draw spell, it seems like he is drawing power from his support corps to cast it, but in reality, as far as the power flow is concerned, they are casting spells remotely under his guidance. The power never truly passes through the battle wizard, and so the only limits on the spells he can cast with this method are the amount of power that can be safely spent by the support wizards without becoming depleted, and the skill of the psionics maintaining the Link, which decides how many support wizards can be Linked.

  “We’ve discovered that the best combination is for the support corps to take care of their battle wizard’s defenses with remotely cast spells, while the battle wizard concentrates on offensive efforts with draw spells.

  “Concentration of power is the key. Any of us six have sufficient psionic skill to co-ordinate the Links and cast the power of several million spell-casters with draw spells. Several million wizards casting Shields and Wards around one person can make that person very close to invulnerable, but this can be taken farther still.

  “You will learn a new style of spell-casting, which involves many of the methods used to cast a blessing or a curse. We call these ‘automated’ spells. By giving my defensive spells a very limited and focused awareness and decision-making ability, they become self-activating, and can act much more quickly and accurately than I can. They no longer need to waste power keeping a Shield all the way around me all the time. If someone shoots an arrow at me, I only really need a Force Shield a bit bigger than the arrow placed right in front of the arrowhead for a fraction of a second before it hits me. Only automated spells can do this with any practicality.

  “Conversely, using the power of several million wizards to cast offensive draw spells is an amazing concentration of power, but if all of that energy can be further concentrated by being focused into a beam no thicker than a hair, no conventional shielding can withstand it. Wiggle it a little, and a hair-thin hole becomes a nasty slice. Make such spells self-activating and a bit aware, and equip them with the ability to discriminate friend from foe, and they will immediately devastate every enemy they can detect.

  “We’ve also developed better methods for conventional troops, both in how they’re transported and deployed, and in how they’re equipped.

  “Now, we’ll divide the spell-casters and commanders into four groups. Povon will teach draw spells and the psionic skills necessary to their casting, Equemev will teach the casting of automated spells, Silaran will teach deployment and transportation, and Kragorram will teach the crafting and use of the new weaponry and equipment. These will be ninety-minute lectures, and then everyone will rotate until all have heard the first four lectures.

  “Then the four subjects will be covered in greater depth for those who will specialize in those subjects.

  “The teaching will be done by Linking. You have twelve hours to learn these matters with sufficient depth to effectively teach them to your subordinates. If you’re ready to do so sooner and your instructor agrees, then do so.

  “Meanwhile, could I have all the political leaders who are neither military commanders nor Master spell-casters gather here with me and Talia.”

  His four instructors made their way to the edges of the room at the four cardinal points, and the crowd divided themselves accordingly.

  At the center of the room the purely political group gathered, including Tokibimina, three human kings from Northern Debivin, six selkies and nine gargoyles. Talia spoke to them as Ria looked on.

  Meanwhile Mark raised the Truthstone of Falgaroth six feet above the dais and began making another pile of miniature versions of it.

  “We are about to correct an injustice, or at least we’ll attempt to do so.” Talia explained. “For eons, the Swarm, trolls, and ogres of Xervia have been kept in quarantine in Warded preserves for crimes committed by their ancient ancestors. It has been impractical to free them until now, since by their natures, they are likely to commit new crimes if freed without restriction. We will go to the borders of their preserves, and offer freedom to any who are willing to swear and be bound by Osbald’s Oath.

  “Since there are millions of them, the twenty-one of us won’t be able to administer the oath to all of them, but it’s important that the process be begun by senior leaders of The Just Alliance, in order to show the seriousness with which we regard this matter, and to show that they will be treated with respect if they comply. We’ll administer the oath to the dominant and leading members of those races, then delegate the swearing of the rest who wish to accept our offer.

  “You’ll each be issued a portable Truthstone, and we’ll bring a bunch of extras as well to leave with the leaders of the races we’ll be freeing. They’ll administer the oath to the rest under the supervision of personnel you’ll contribute for the task.

  “That’s the plan, but we’ll have to be flexible. Even Quewanak’s awareness gives him no way to reliably predict these races’ reactions.

  “I’m ready if you are.” Mark announced, and began handing out portable Truthstones.

  Soon they stood in a clearing in a strange jungle. Across one end of the clearing was the shimmer of Wards that appeared to be similar in style to the Sylvan Boundary. Talia led them to within a few paces of the Wards as she cast several spells.

  “Talia will handle the presentation to the ogres and trolls.” Mark announced as he touched a fingertip to the Wards and altered them a bit. “Theirs is a difficult language, even with the use of a translation spell, and she has a better knack for languages than I do. She’ll lower the pitch of her voice as well, and cast it loudly and widely enough to be heard over the entire preserve.”

  “I’ll be directing it away from us, but you’ll still want to block some of it.” Talia told him as she took a few steps away from the rest of the group.

  “Ah.” Mark smiled. Suddenly the background sound of the breeze and the jungle around them dropped to a fraction of its volume, and almost perfect silence reigned.

  Talia began roaring into the preserve with an unearthly noise.

  “It won’t be long before we get a response.” Mark assured the group of rulers. “The preser
ve is four hundred and fifty miles long and about ninety miles wide, so it’ll take a long time for all of them to come here, but we’re near the best territories, where the most dominant individuals live. Trolls can run six leagues in an hour, so the closer ones should be here pretty soon. The ogres will follow the trolls to see if they can get some easy food.”

  “Your Highness, if I may.” one of the human kings said with a polite bow. “What exactly is the Princess saying to them?”

  “King Karbof, she’s saying; ‘We are The Just. We are mighty and strong. Our magic is scary. Come here, and we may let you out.’ She’s repeating it. You have to keep things simple with trolls. If they have to absorb too many concepts at once they only get confused. And you have to demand respect, or you won’t get any.”

  King Karbof of Bhia smiled, and was surprised at how pleased it made him that Mark knew who he was.

  “We don’t want to have a crowd here right now, but once the swearing really gets going we’ll need quite a bit of help, as we said.” Mark continued. “I’m thinking that if each of you supplies fifteen hundred people, it should all be finished by nightfall. Do any of you need assistance with bringing them here?”

  “Not at all.” King Karbof said. “We all carry items for Speaking or Linking with our administrators, and with Somonik.”

  A selkie chittered shrilly while thumping the base of its gnarled driftwood staff on the turf, and a strange voice issued forth from it. “Age of magic and wonder. Items of power in every market, spells for hire and gift. One need not talent for magic to use it, and everyone a wizard who can trade for it. My people no less.”

  “Quite so, Prime Wisdom Zop.” Mark smiled and nodded, and the selkie’s staff chittered its translation.

  “I bring people now. People speak troll, hear Talia. They say again Talia’s words to other trolls after we go. Say again exactly.”

  “That’s good thinking, thank you.” Mark nodded.

  “Ogres almost too stupid to talk. What you say to ogres?”

  “Less.” Mark grinned.

  Zop hissed, and giggling laughter issued from his staff.

  Talia finished her troll-call. Movement in the jungle showed that beings moved there, just behind the first screening layers of plant life, but none ventured forth into the clearing.

  “Trolls smell bad. Ogres smell worse.” Zop quietly chittered as he waved a paw under his nose.

  “Ya. Bodies a bit like gorillas with tusks, skins like elephants, smells like rotting skunks.” Mark agreed.

  Suddenly one of the other selkies softly chittered directly in Zop’s ear, but his staff still picked it up and translated it. “Your staff set wrong syntax! Your Trade Common sound like infant, like fool!”

  “I know, but am understandable, so fine.” Zop calmly returned. “Was good trade; six big pearls. Looks nice, feels good in hand. Has seven other spells, better than this. Speaks good Morning, good Draconian. Excellent Shield. Nothing is perfect.”

  “At this moment, my fine comrade, I’d say that shielding might take priority over eloquence.” Karbof commented.

  Trolls and ogres were emerging into the clearing, forced into view by the rough shoving of those arriving behind them, and the crowd of them shook the bushes and trees around them while filling the air with guttural snarling.

  Meanwhile, dozens of selkies were arriving in the clearing behind the delegation.

  “Why talk to trolls? Why talk to ogres?” Zop asked. “Cast question on Truthstone; do you swear Osbald’s Oath? Throw Truthstone into preserve. Trolls touch stone, say yes, pass Wards. Say no, stay there.”

  “We’re hoping for a bit more than that, actually.” Mark admitted.

  A minute later a harsh boom was heard, triggering the trolls and ogres to snarl and growl even louder as they looked behind them. A moment later the boom was repeated, closer this time, and they began to clear an aisle. Those who were slow to do so were shoved out of the way, and a fourteen foot tall troll emerged into the clearing, accompanied by two eighteen foot ogres, all three carrying massive clubs made from tree trunks a foot thick and eight or nine feet long, smoothed at the handle and chipped and cracked at the business end from long use. The troll slammed his club into the ground of the clearing and cast a crude Concussion with it as he did so, revealing the source of the booms.

  “Hm. A lot bigger and older than any Zarkog has.” Talia commented.

  “These will be the dominant males.” Mark stated with assurance. “Now for a show of force, just to establish our credentials. I’m sure Talia can handle this, but I’m her back-up, so excuse us while we give this our attention for a minute.”

  With that, Talia calmly stepped through the Wards.

  This seemed to surprise the big troll a bit, then he growled and shoved one of his ogres forward.

  That one roared his challenge as he took a running overhead swing. Talia blocked the blow with a forearm and the club broke at the point of contact with a loud crack, the end two feet of it flying into the ground behind her with a thud and a bounce. The ogre took another swing with his shortened weapon, but Talia danced inside his swing and neatly tripped him, sending him sprawling forward.

  As the ogre struggled to his feet, she calmly strode toward the troll. As she came within range of his club she made a quick sliding step to the side and seized the end of it with clawed fingers that sank half their length into the wood as splinters flew free from the impact. Before the troll could react to the blinding speed of her move, she had ripped it from his grip and spun to threaten the ogre behind her with it. That one took two steps back in shocked surprise, and the tableau held for a moment.

  Then she calmly handed the huge club back to the troll with one hand, and he took it from her just as the handful of wood she was gripping broke free with a crunch. She dropped the chunk and walked back to her group, rubbing her forearm where the first club had hit like it pained her a little. As she passed the ogre she made a quick feint toward him and he warily jumped back, and she giggled as she rejoined her husband.

  “Nice moves.” Mark chuckled.

  “Thanks.” she nodded as she gave his waist a quick hug, then turned back to the dominant troll and began speaking the aggressive noise of his language again.

  “She’s repeating the introduction. ‘We are The Just. We are mighty and strong. Our magic is scary.” Mark translated. “You can touch this stone.”

  Talia held forth a portable Truthstone as she continued her speech.

  “You can say you will not fight first at people. You can say you will not hurt those who hurt no one, and you will not let them be hurt. You can say you will uphold justice. If you touch the stone and say those things, you will have to do what you said, but I will let you out.”

  The troll answered her just as aggressively.

  “He says; ‘The burners and the runners will hunt us then.’ I think he means the dragons and the unicorns.

  “Talia says they will not, for if they speak on the stone as she says, they will wear the mark of The Just, and will be protected from the burners and the runners.

  “He asks what ‘uphold justice’ means.

  “She says, touch the stone, and you will know what justice means. If you do not speak while you touch it, you will not be spelled.”

  She held it through the shimmering curtain, and the troll hesitantly advanced to the Wards and touched it with a fingertip for a moment. Then he looked at his fingertip like he might see some profound truth there.

  “He says; ‘That is strange. If I do this thing and I don’t like it, can I come back and be what I was?

  “She says; ‘You can always come back here, for the preserve will always be the land of your people. But once you speak on the stone, you are spelled for all time.

  “Now she’s offering him a job. His choice of jobs, actually, either joining the Hilian forces or cutting trees for a timbering concern. She telling him about the excellent f
ood we have. She’s telling him that if he’s lucky and works hard, he may get to fight demons. And it looks like that’s decided him.” Mark finished with a chuckle as the big troll reached for the stone again, and swore his oath upon it.

  Mark barely noticed the flash of the spell as the white and blue symbol of The Just Alliance appeared on the troll’s enormous belly, and large enough to cover almost all of it, while the blue symbol of the Truthstone appeared covering his entire face. He shuddered, then took a deep breath, and stepped through the Wards.

  Mark had to marvel that even the lumpy face of a troll covered with a blue symbol could bear an expression that shone with the wonder of freedom.

  “He says; ‘My Marking is big, so dragons can see it easily. I am Kugkugki, strong and fierce. I will walk through that forest. I have never walked there before. Maybe I will trade my strength another day. If demons come, find me, and I will kill them.”

  With no more ado, the troll strode off.

  The ogre with the broken club was next to swear, though it was unclear whether he truly understood what he was saying. It mattered not. The symbols appeared on him as they had on Kugkugki, and he stepped through the barrier. He looked around, considered the selkies who were closest to him, then looked at his broken club. Suddenly he broke into a jog, and crashed off through the trees.

  Then trolls and ogres were surging forward, and Talia turned to her party. “Space yourselves out along the Wards and hold your Truthstones halfway through the barrier. That way they can touch the stone to swear on it without being able to grab your hand and pull you into the preserve.”

  Soon trolls and ogres were streaming out of the preserve by the dozens.

  “You appear to have this well in hand.” Talia said after a few minutes. She handed her Truthstone to one of the newly arrived selkies. “Inform the High council of Xervia and all the local authorities that they have new citizens, sworn and trustworthy, with all the rights we enjoy.”

  “I’ll have the other holders of Truthstones send theirs along if they’re not using them.” Mark told them as incoming gargoyles arrived. “And I’ll make up some more when we get back. Meanwhile those of us of the Assembly will go see the Swarm.”

  Mark and Talia appeared with the nineteen rulers on a dusty plain that was almost a desert, with shimmering Wards extending from horizon to horizon in front of them. A huge hive queen appeared on the other side with her millions of workers and soldiers only a moment later. More queens and their swarms appeared behind her, then more still, and in five seconds they extended as far as the eye could see.

  “I know who you are, and I know what you are about.” a buzzing psionic voice suddenly proclaimed. “I have been listening since you appeared to the trolls.

  “I am the Queen of Queens, and all of The Swarm who live are my daughters, my daughters’ daughters, my daughters’ daughters’ daughters. Even those who were stolen from me to fight and breed for the Dragon Lord. He must be made to pay for his offense against me. My daughters must be returned to me. I rule The Swarm, and no other.

  “I will swear on the stone for my freedom. All of The Swarm will do so. The prize is worth the price. I demand a full voice in your Assembly for myself, and an equal place in The Just Alliance for my people.

  “I am seventh in power on this world, fourth in psionics, second in awareness only to Quewanak the Eldest. The might of The Swarm is considerable. We will strike fear into the demons, and work must begin immediately to prepare to repel them. But first we deal with the Dragon Lord.

  “Throw the stones into the preserve, and we will swear. I would waste no more time. Nor do I expect you to share your plans with me before I have sworn, and I am eager to know them.”

  Talia tossed her stone onto the sand in front of the glistening insectoid as Mark altered the Wards with a fingertip. There was one more moment to enjoy the coppery colors of her glassy carapace and the rainbow shimmer of her transparent wings. Then she swore the oath and became pure white except for five blue Truthstone symbols, one centered on each of her four long oval wings, and one on her head between her antennae. Her millions of ten-inch long workers and sixteen-inch long warriors assumed the same coloring at the same moment, since their minds were merely extensions of hers.

  “Wings of a dragonfly, body of a wasp.” Talia breathed as she watched the spectacle. “Beautiful. And it’s nice that your bottom jaw moves up and down, rather than having two that move side to side like many insects. It’s a lot easier to tell that you’re people that way, somehow.”

  “Thank you.” the Swarm queen acknowledged as she rose to her full six foot height and spread her wings to their full twelve foot span. She fanned herself a bit, then gracefully flew through the Wards.

  “Throw your Truthstones as far into the preserve as you can.” Talia instructed her companions. “It’ll speed things up and reduce crowding. Once they’ve all sworn, we’ll have the Wards taken down by the High Council of Xervia.”

  “That would be a waste.” The Queen of Queens chided. “No layer of defense should be discarded while the demons still threaten. Once I am accepted into the Assembly, I should also be accepted into The High Council of Xervia. Then I can have these Wards Keyed to me, and use them to help defend my land, rather than contain it.

  “My daughters will return your stones when the last of them have sworn. And as you can see, that will not take long.”

  Indeed, her workers had neatly caught the thrown stones as her daughter queens lined up in rows, and now the stones were flown down the rows. Each queen needed only to reach up and touch a passing stone with an antenna to effectively swear the oath. They and their minions became white in waves across the dry prairie, and they were distinguished from The Queen of Queens and her first-generation workers and soldiers by their lack of the blue symbols on their wings, having it only on their heads.

  “That’s a stirring sight, and a beautiful one.” Mark stated. “An entire race being delivered from captivity. Two of them in one day, actually. Not a bad day’s work. There’s a lot more of you than I expected.”

  “One of my daughters is a seer. She knew we faced troubling times some seventy-two years ago. Since then we have bred to the capacity of our rainfall and water supply. As soon as I have a spare moment I intend to trade for an irrigation system. We can remove impurities from seawater, but we need an underground river built from the coast.

  “We number more than seventeen million Queens, twenty-one billion workers, six billion soldiers.”

  “Ah. That is an impressive host indeed. Well, your part of the plan will be to wait until we have Zarkog completely distracted, and then reclaim your family. After that, if Zarkog hasn’t fallen, you’ll help us see to his downfall. We know that Zarkog holds your daughters in thrall by means of a specialized Compulsion spell. It took our companion Povon a few months to crack it, but she’s formulated a countering spell. If you’ll allow me to Link with you, I’ll give it to you, along with what you’ll need to know to carry out your part of the plan.”

  “Thank you.”

  The first thing he did once the Link was established was to check her trustworthiness. The hive-mind was so alien that Mark worried whether even the Truthstone could turn their voracious appetite and xenophobia. He needn’t have worried. She was fully sworn to justice and comfortable with it, and fully dedicated to the new course she had committed her people to. She considered this the beginning of a new golden age for her race.

  “Sorry about that, but I had to know.” he thought. “Here’s the counter spell and the information.”

  “Quite understandable, and thank you. I am surprised to find that you have a beautiful mind. A rare thing among the single-minds.”

  “Thanks, so do you. Hey, do you want to trade spells? I’ve amassed quite an impressive collection, if I say so myself, and I’m sure you have a lot of stuff I’ve never seen before.”

  “Certainly.”
/>
  “You know, we have a word for a Queen of Queens, and it is Empress.” Mark told her when they’d made their selections. “May I call you that?”

  “Ah. Empress. I like that, it has nice connotations. And I like these fond memories you have of helping your neighbor to keep his honeybees, and of the good food they made. They are close to your thoughts and obvious, triggered by your experience here. They are such cute little things. We keep them ourselves you know, for their honey and their company as pets. I have never had a personal name before, as your people would consider such things, but I would be pleased to be known as Empress Honey. I think it will help my image in your peoples’ minds.”

  “Empress Honey you are then, and I think that’s good thinking on how it’ll be received.”

  He withdrew from the Link, and turned to Karbof. “King Karbof, ruler of The Kingdom of Bhia in far Debivin, I am pleased to formally present Empress Honey, ruler of The Swarm and their lands. Empress Honey, I present King Karbof.”

  “I am pleased to meet you.” Karbof grinned, and offered her a bow.

  “As I am pleased to meet you.” she returned with a bow of her own.

  Meanwhile Talia reported in. “Somonik, we have good news. I think you’ll want a few minutes to prepare before we return to The Hall of the Assembly.”

  She proceeded to pass him a quick reading of their last half-hour.

  “I have it. Good work. We will prepare a suitable welcome for Empress Honey.”

  By the time Mark had finished formally introducing his party, finishing with Talia, Honey’s workers were returning with the Truthstones.

  “All right, we’re off to The Hall of The Assembly of The Just Alliance.” Mark announced as he pocketed his stone, noting that the workers had made the effort to return each one to the person who’d thrown it. “Any last thoughts before we go?”

  “I will bring one hundred workers and one hundred soldiers, for the sake of my emotional comfort.” The Empress announced. “They will not be in the way. Besides, they are so pretty this way, I’d like to show them off. The rest will return to their duties with the livestock and the crops and the young.”

  Her two hundred drones crowded close around her.

  “All right, here we go.” Mark announced, and they Translocated.

  They arrived on the dais at the center of the hall beside the maimed white dragon. The lessons had been interrupted, and everyone was gathered around.

  “Somonik, Speaker of The Ninety Nine, honored members of the Assembly of The Just Alliance, I present Empress Honey, ruler of The Swarm, seventh in power on Kellaran, fourth in psionics, second in awareness.” Mark declared. “Empress Honey, by the power vested in me by this Assembly as temporarily ruling Key to The Just Alliance, I do declare you to be a member in full standing of this Assembly, and I do declare your people to be a full member nation of The Just Alliance in good standing.”

  The Assembly gave her a round of applause, and she gracefully bowed and waved her wings in each of four directions, while her drones flew in beautifully complex patterns over her head.

  “Thank you, I am honored.” she stated when she was done that. “And I must admit that my ranking now stands at nineteenth, eleventh, and fifth. Some here are more accomplished than I had known.

  “Time is of the essence. I have a complete grasp of the spells being taught here today, having received them from Mark earlier. It is brilliant spell design, by the way. I hope to have a chance to speak with all of you and to get to know you in the coming days, but right now I can assist in the teaching. After Zarkog has fallen, there will be ample time for socializing.”

  “Excellent.” Somonik nodded. “Many of us have already learned what is taught here today and have gone forth to teach our subordinates. I am doing so remotely as we speak. The wizards of the Shiganzhu are having trouble grasping automated spells, however, since they have never used curses or blessings. Perhaps you could work with them. A different perspective on the work may be all that they need.”

  “I will endeavor to succeed.” Honey stated with an eerily human nod.

  She flew off the dais, and was soon surrounded by giants, and deeply Linked with them.

  Mark raised the Truthstone again, and made a few hundred more portable Truthstones, then sent all but five to the crew at the troll and ogre preserve. Then he noticed that their platoon of nineteen rulers still attended, and turned to Prime Wisdom Zop.

  “You know, Zop, you really gave me a good idea, though I have a better use for it.” he stated with a grin, then turned to Somonik.

  “How many spell-casters do we have available at this very moment to help us with some power for a draw spell?”

  “I could have several hundred million Linked and ready in half a minute. I’ll have them Link in hierarchies, I’ll Link to a thousand who are each Linked to a thousand, and so on. More will take longer to organize. Call it four minutes to have everyone who is available; some two billion or so.”

  “You’re all learning a lot faster than I’d hoped.” Mark grinned. “We surely did miss not having the top echelon available in the training. We didn’t have you or Tithian or anyone here. I keep forgetting what a difference it makes.

  “Anyway. Give me a hundred thousand for a hundredth of a second in one minute.”

  “We will be ready.”

  “Help me out with this, Talia my love? And Ria too? That’s a lot of power. It wouldn’t do to slip with it the first time we try this in reality.”

  “Of course.”

  The three Linked deeply and prepared their spells. Mark and Talia cupped their four hands together, holding the five portable Truthstones. Talia psionicly gave the countdown for the last ten seconds, Somonik Linked them with the multitude of power suppliers, and as she reached ‘five’ Ria called out with unignorable psionic power to those in the hall with them; “Guard your eyes from the flash!”

  “…Three, two, one, now!” Talia called, and the spell was cast with a crackling bolt of sound and a flash akin to a lightning strike.

  “Ow! They’re a bit hot!” Talia grimaced as she dumped the stones into Mark’s hands.

  “Ya, but it worked fine other than that! And the portion of the power we lost to light, sound and heat was minuscule compared to the total that went into the spell!” Mark crowed. He stowed four of the stones in his shirt, and held the fifth one up to show that the center on both sides was now marked with a small yellow pictogram of the Sword Star of Hilia in the center.

  “As you suggested, Prime Wisdom, we have cast the question into the stone.” he grinned. “When any person who is not sworn to justice touches this stone, the question will be automatically and psionicly asked in a tiny fraction of a second; ‘Do you swear to not break the peace, to protect the innocent, and to uphold justice, forevermore?’ But that was easy, we put that in with a bit of Talia’s power beforehand, along with a mark to tell these apart. More importantly, in the same fraction of a second in which the question is asked, a Compulsion with the power of a hundred thousand wizards will be cast as well, and the person touching the stone will silently and psionicly answer; ‘Yes I do.’, in an even shorter fraction of a second! Even Zarkog couldn’t resist it without prior knowledge and a good deal of preparation!

  “Now, we need a test subject. Are there any Serminaki attacks going on right now?”

  “No.” Somonik answered. “We just dispersed one in Felion a few minutes ago. Quite likely another will begin within six to ten minutes, if they follow their pattern.”

  “Good. That gives me time to make a couple more special stones. Have everyone who’s competent with the new magic techniques get ready. We’ll counterstrike the moment we hear they’ve begun.”

  “We will be ready.” Somonik nodded.

  Mark made two more stones from the Truthstone, and these were bigger, one as big as his fist, the other the size of his head. He cast spells upon them as he held them in his han
ds, first the smaller, then the larger. Then he drew his sword and told it; “Cut straight, GrimFang!”, then carefully sliced off one end of the smaller stone, freeing a thin piece three inches wide. He sliced an even smaller piece only an inch and a half wide from one end of the larger stone.

  He sheathed his sword and set the two larger remnants to Levitating, then handed the two smaller pieces to Talia. “The smaller one’s yours, the larger one’s mine. If you’d be so kind, my love, could you fetch two of our gold necklaces and mount these so that the flat sides rest against our skin?”

  “Certainly, Dearest Prince.” she smiled. She Summoned the gold chains and attached the two stones to the center five links by magic, and was done in ten seconds.

  One of the Selkies clapped with delight at their dexterous performances.

  “We’ve had time to learn a thing or two of crafting and fabrication from Kragorram.” Talia bashfully explained.

  Meanwhile, Mark had cast again on the two largest pieces to reshape them, flattening the Levitating stones into thin discs with rounded indentations on one side, like large versions of the symbol of the Truthstone. The fist-sized piece was now over three feet wide, the head-sized piece over nine feet wide. Finally he protected them from breaking with an internal strengthening of rigid Force.

  He and Talia donned their necklaces, then Mark Translocated them to the focus above Focus Mountain. He Levitated the smaller disk into place in the focus, and set it to slowly Move with an automated spell.

  “I get it!” Talia laughed. “As the smaller Truthstones transfer the larger one’s godpower, so the disk transfers your power from the focus to your necklace stone, which then shines into you! You can draw all the power of the reflector remotely, for the entire time that the sun shines upon it!”

  “You do have it.” he smiled as he gave her a one armed hug and a quick kiss.

  Then he jumped them again. “Greetings, Sentries of The High People. It’s us.” Mark psionicly announced as they appeared.

  “Greetings Mark, Talia. How are you?”

  “We are well, Yalla.” Mark returned. “How fares Dilimon and yourself, and all our friends here?”

  “Dilimon and I are busy, stressed, crazy in love, and happy as gophers in a granary. The war has not struck in The Nine Valleys. Theramin’s wife Yzell is with child again. It’s like a miracle, their fifth in twenty years or so.

  “What can we do for you?”

  “We’re only here for a minute. We’re leaving a big flat Truthstone floating in the air a few thousand feet above the center of Laylas Valley. We’d appreciate it if it wasn’t disturbed. Folks can fly up and look at it if they want I guess, since it’s rather pretty, or even swear oaths on it, since it is a genuine part of the Truthstone of Falgaroth. They just can’t try to move it.”

  “We follow your instructions, Prince Mark.”

  “Thanks Yalla. We’ll see you again soon.”

  “Be well till then.” she said in closing.

  “We will, and you as well.” Talia called. “Say hi to everyone for us.”

  Mark ended the speaking.

  “Ah, my love, this is beautiful!” the lithe blond elf breathed as she pirouetted in the air, her hands clasped over the power stone on her chest.

  “Thanks.” he grinned, vicariously glorying in her joy. “With the larger size of your transmitting stone, and the fact that it’s power delivery is far more consistent and lasts all day and all night, it transfers almost as much power as mine does. In both cases, it’s as much power as we can absorb internally at peak output, or I’d have made ‘em bigger. If you start to feel overloaded, just turn the receiving stone over so the flat side faces outward. Any wizards standing in front of you within fifteen feet are sure to notice and appreciate it.”

  “We’ll have to find a handy way to store any excess power.” she mused. “Then you can make the transmitting stones bigger.”

  “Ha! Good point! But right now we’ve got to get back to the Assembly Hall and get ready for a quick battle.”

  They appeared beside Somonik again, and Mark immediately questioned him.

  “What’s the Serminaki method of attack on these terror raids?”

  “They have their most undetectable scouts making quick reconnoiters above our cities.” Somonik replied, nonplussed at the abruptness of the question. “When they see one or more of our citizens emerge from the safety of shielded and Warded zones and buildings, they call an attack force of two to three million Sylvan and a few thousand dragons. They snatch their victims, and a few Sylvan torture them just above rooftop height, amplifying their screams, while the rest Shield them. When enough of our forces are brought to bear against them to have a chance of cracking their Shields, they kill their victims and drop them, then Translocate away. We kill a tenth of them on average before they can finish making their escape. It’s a nerve wracking business for our mobile forces, being constantly ready to counter-attack at a moment’s notice, and they’ve yet to save any victims.

  “Our defenses become more complete by the minute, and we’ve warned the populace repeatedly to avoid exposing themselves, yet there always seems to be someone who can’t resist checking the health of his cows in their unWarded barn, or trekking to the next street to visit someone, or some such thing. They’ve improved, though. When the terror attacks began they were snatching hundreds of victims at a time. Now our citizens are so wary that the Serminaki seldom get more than three per attack.”

  “All right. Squad, here.”

  Kragorram, Povon, Equemev and Silaran immediately left off their teaching and appeared beside him on the dais.

  “Have everyone who’s available to supply power and cast remote defenses stand ready.” Mark told Somonik. “Have our best combat spell-casters come along to observe. Have the support corps provide defenses for the combat wizards under Equemev and Silaran’s guidance. Us seven will see to our own defense, but we’ll take all the power the support corps can provide to attack with, and we’ll show you how it’s done. It won’t take long either, so everyone’s going to have to pay attention.

  “Pass control of the Link to Povon. No slight on your psionic skills, Somonik, but we’ve done this a thousand times, and you’ll have all your concentration available for observation this one time.”

  “I understand, and take no disrespect.”

  “I have almost a billion in the Link.” Povon announced. “What an exhilaration!”

  “Greetings everyone, and welcome to the effort.” Mark announced over the Link. “Stay ready. We should be getting word of an attack any minute now. We won’t make it neat with hair-thin attack spells this time; we’ll make it as spectacular and overpowering as we can without endangering our own citizens. We leave six of the enemy alive and take three of them prisoner, leaving three to run home to Zarkog and tell him what happened. And we damn well better be fast enough to save whoever they snatch. These are the automated spells we’ll be casting, but recognize that you often won’t know in advance what your attack wizards are going to have to do. Just be ready with the power when they need it, and if things get really exciting, don’t let yourselves become dangerously depleted.”

  A tense silence enveloped the huge room as the waiting commenced in earnest.

  Two and a quarter minutes later, Somonik frantically cried out in the Link, transferring his thoughts in a blink. “Now! A Shiganzhu child climbed a roof to fetch his pet, and they have taken him! Lemukjin Township, northwest coast of Felion! Now they have jumped, emerging above Verzaclon City, where there is a larger audience for their depravity! Here!”

  “Go!” Mark ordered, as soon as the Translocation reference was received.

  The Six of Hilia and Ria were already drawing power and casting spells as they emerged with several hundred combat spell-casters above the arched stone rooftops of the giant city, a quarter mile north of their opponents.

  Before another twentieth of a second had
passed a massive bolt of bright white destruction had lanced across the sky and instantly devastated the enemy force, obliterating their Shields like paper and vaporizing their bodies, while the young giant boy they held was Sent to safety, and three of their number were rendered unconscious and Sent to The Hall of The Assembly. Those four were unscathed by the white bolt, though they had been in the midst of it and the three Sylvan had been stripped of Shields, as had three young dragons who floated in frightened shock for a moment in their suddenly emptied airspace before vanishing.

  “Mission accomplished!” Mark triumphantly announced over the Link, and let those in the city below hear him as well by means of a modified Field Command spell. “That’s how it’s done. We saved the boy before he could get more than bruises, and killed almost three million torturing murderers. A good toll. And since I have a pretty good idea what they were about to do to that boy, I don’t feel a damn bit bad about any of them. The same will happen to any who attack the citizens of The Just Alliance.

  “Back to base.” he commanded, and they left just as a wild cheering began to rise from the city below.

  “How was your education program coming before I interrupted you for that?” Mark asked his companions as soon as they arrived back in The Hall of The Assembly.

  “Enough of them understand it all.” Povon answered. “Things have proceeded with amazing rapidity. Efforts are already well underway to teach the rest the magic, to build and distribute the new weapons and to train fighters in their use, and to redeploy them. Promotions and reassignments have been effected.”

  “Good. Let’s see if our new toys work.” Mark nodded as he took out a Compulsion-spelled stone and stepped to their three captives, who lay immobilized at the edge of the dais, their eyes wide with fear.

  “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit.” he chuckled as he forced a Link on the nearest one, effortlessly cracked her psionic shields in a blink, and touched her with the stone. He nodded in satisfaction as he noted the oath taking effect, and the Markings appeared on her left forearm.

  “Most excellent.” He chuckled again as he touched the other two Sylvan with the stone in quick succession, then released the three from their paralysis as he turned to the nearest steward, a gargoyle who waited attentively for an opportunity to serve or assist. “Have these three taken to our other sworn Sylvan. Thanks.”

  As the three were led away he turned to the white dragon.

  “Somonik, carry on. The six of us are off to infiltrate the enemy. If they try another terror strike, use everyone available and blast them again. If they try anything else, let me know. Keep the Link hot, with at least a few million spell-casters ready to go at all times. If we get into trouble, we may need to grab some extra power in a hurry.”

  “Right. There is just one thing that I’m curious about. You still refer to yourselves as six, though it’s obvious that Ria is as valuable to your efforts as any. Why not name yourselves the Seven?”

  “Ah. Well we have a running argument about that, though it’s only teasing.” Mark told him with a smile. “When we suggested it to Ria, she countered that since she and Talia and I are absolutely inseparable, we three should only count as one person, and that therefore we can only be considered the five of Hilia. Another time she said that we have to remain as The Six, since we’ve chosen a six-pointed sword-star to represent us, and it would look silly with seven points. Myself, I think she’s just a bit shy about being considered a real person, but since she’s not comfortable with it, we don’t push her about it.”

  “I see.” Somonik chuckled, and closed his eyes for a moment as he focused his attention elsewhere.

  “You know your targets.” Mark said to his unicorn and dragon friends as he handed out sword-star marked Truthstones, keeping one for himself. They stowed them in their packs by Movement, since the unicorns had no hands, and the stones were too small for the dragons to handle easily. “Don’t take any chances. In and out as fast as you can. These should make this a lot easier.”

  “I’ll say!” Silaran snickered. “It’ll be like playing tag! Simply show up, slap them with the stone, and be gone!”

  “Remember, the point is to bring these people over to our side.” Talia counseled. “We won’t gain much loyalty from them by cracking them in the head with a rock, notwithstanding their Compelled oath. If you can get them to touch the stone voluntarily or by stealth, so much the better.”

  “In that case, we might as well use the cute approach.” Povon laughed. “No one can resist a tiny, helpless-looking little animal with a huge jewel!”

  She set her stone on the floor and cast a compound spell on herself with great concentration. A moment later, she and her possessions began to shrink. This continued for sixteen seconds, by which time she was only five feet long including her tail, her head only twenty inches above the floor.

  “What a wondrous metamorphosis!” King Karbof exclaimed.

  “Thank you.” Povon nodded as she retrieved her Compelling Truthstone and tucked it under her chain mail. “It’s the refined version of an experimental spell that Somonik was working on some time ago, one of the ones he traded for Kragorram’s second-best sword. It took me a while to make it workable, and longer yet for these friends to learn it, but we have it now. It’s very useful for stealth, though it requires a great deal of compensation spells. I still have all of my weight and strength compacted into this tiny form, thus I am so dense that no steel could cut me, nor could almost any spell harm me, even if I were caught without Shields. But I have to Levitate most of my weight all the time so that my concentrated heft doesn’t crack the floor. Moving around and flying become tricky. My sight, smell, taste, and voice pitch also need to be compensated for, and without a compensating spell, my lungs would be far too tiny to supply sufficient breath to my body, since my air requirements remain undiminished.”

  “On the other hand, it does indeed make us look very cute and non-threatening.” Talia giggled, and Karbof realized with a shock that the entire squad had shrunk while he was concentrating on Povon.

  Not counting the length of his tail and neck, Kragorram was now the size of a large dog, and so was Silaran, both about three feet high at the shoulder when standing on all fours. Equemev was a few inches shorter. Mark stood only two feet tall, Talia only one. Each were perfect miniatures.

  “I intend to masquerade as statuary.” Kragorram confided with a chuckle. “I have seen a statue of a dragon that was made by a human, and it used an appropriately silly pose. It was so grandiose and ridiculous that no real dragon would ever actually assume the position unless their goal was hilarity. Or deception. Let me show you.” He stood balanced on his left foot with his right foot lifted high behind him, his wings spread high, his neck and his tail held up in matching, graceful, mirror-image S curves, his Compulsion stone held high before him in both hands.

  “I will wear a note addressed to a recipient other than the officer I am visiting.” Kragorram added with a snicker as he held the pose with perfect stillness. “It will say; ‘Thanks for all your help.’ There is not a single Sylvan or a dragon of Serminak who could resist trying to steal the stone under those circumstances.”

  “I think you have something there, my crimson friend.” Talia laughed. “There are certain poses that are used so often for statues of elves that they are clichés. With a note such as yours, and standing still in such a position, none will suspect me before they touch the stone.”

  “However we do it, let’s get it done.” Mark grinned. “We’re way ahead of schedule, and I don’t want us to lose momentum. We’ll spend six hours on this, then move on to the next step.

  “Let’s go.”

  Six miniature warriors vanished to attend to their tasks.

  In a cave on a mountainside overlooking The Dragon Lord’s Point Bay Naval Facility, Senior Admiral Gragok carefully watched over Serminak’s largest naval refitting docks. His great red bulk filled
the passage behind him, and he lay relaxed with his chin on the edge of the cliff at the cave’s mouth. Nothing in the vast shipyard below escaped his attention. Occasionally he emitted a thin stream of smoke from one nostril to test the breeze.

  Suddenly something tickled his tail and an immense energy rushed through him. The psionic question was asked and the answer given before he could draw breath to voice his distress. And nothing was ever quite the same for him again.

  “Damn! That’s one tacky statue! And misdelivered! It’s meant for my surly and insubordinate subordinate Wemb! There’s only one thing to do, my friend!”

  “Right. I have a piece of blue quartz that should fit where the sapphire is. Give me a moment to rummage for it. And don’t scar the jewel when you remove it! I lost half the value of a topaz that way once.”

  “I woAAH!!!”

  “Crap! It’s gone! Hey! Commander! Are you all right?”

  “What is General Kimorler’s condition?!!! You!!! Report now!!!”

  “I… I’m not sure, Commander! I’d just brought him the latest reports and I’d turned to go when there was a flash behind me, that is where the general was, and he yelled real loud; ‘No! No! I cannot be like that! I won’t, I refuse!’ I turned to him and he turned to me, and… I’ve never seen him that angry! I could tell that he was going to kill me, I mean, he really, really wanted to kill me, just to have something to vent his frustration on! And he was going to do it, he’d made the decision, I could tell! He jumped over and loomed over me, and he drew breath to burn me as his claws reached for me, and then he stopped. I mean he just froze, and he got all tense like he was fighting some immense Force, but there was nothing like that around, I could tell! Then he suddenly turned and clawed a big chunk out of the wall at the same time that he burned his desk and his reports to ash with his breath! And he screamed; ‘Leave me! Get out!’ with his back still turned to me, and I got out of there fast! Then you could hear him raging and destroying things for a while, and then it got all quiet. I reported in to the staff sergeant and apprised her of the events. That was three minutes ago.”

  Equemev was careful. This was the oldest Sylvan alive, and a fearsome wizard, though you could tell neither from the look of him. She appeared in a shadowed corner of his kitchen, under a stool. General Zwak Deathbringer was preparing food at a counter, his back to her. She flung the jewel at him by Movement, aiming for the exposed skin at the back of his neck.

  Quicker than a striking snake, he spun and caught the stone in his fist. If the stone flashed with the spell, the light was absorbed by his hand or lost in the bright morning sunlight streaming in the window. He betrayed no sign that he had been affected by the Compulsion or the oath, and instead eyed her with interest, apparently unsurprised at finding a miniature unicorn in his kitchen and throwing huge jewels at him. She was just deciding to strike at him to retrieve her Truthstone when he spoke.

  “I’ll need this. I can’t do much without my soldiers, and their co-operation will require its touch.”

  “I still need that now. Give it back and show me where you stand. If I trust you, I’ll return with the stone in a few hours. Perhaps with many of them.”

  He nodded and crouched to hand her the stone, and she trotted over and touched his finger with the tip of her tiny horn. His psionic shields were lowered to her. He had realized what had happened the instant the spell had struck, and had considered all the relevant implications a second later. He was sworn to justice, therefore he could no longer assist Zarkog, and he could not remain neutral and do nothing. Therefore his own survival and his fulfillment of the oath required that he assist The Just Alliance in any way he could.

  “I’ll be back. Here is the list of your fellow commanders who have felt the touch of the Compulsion stone, here the list of those who are scheduled to feel it over the next three hours. Those who have been sworn now wear the Marking of The Just Alliance on their bodies, as you do. Like yours, their Markings are hidden from view, but with line of sight or close proximity you will be able to sense who wears it. Coordinate efforts with them to the extent that you can without revealing yourselves to Zarkog.”

  “Hey! What’s that?”

  “What?”

  “There, in the corner of the garden! Behind the shrub! Here! It’s… By the source, it’s a pixie! It looks to be wounded and exhausted!”

  “There’s no such thing as pixies, Administrator! Be careful! It could be a gnome, and I hear they’re fearsome enemies, despite their tiny stature!”

  “I know what a gnome looks like! Easy now, you’re scaring her! It’ll be easier to catch her if we can gain her trust!!”

  “Oooh. I see. What’s it got behind it’s back?”

  “You’re right, she’s trying to hide something from us! It’s… A bit of light… My soul! It’s a jewel as big as a large plum! Sapphire, it looks like! Here pixie, give us the pretty jewel… Come on, give it over… That’s right…”

  The Six were in a fine mood when they returned to The Hall of The Assembly, though Kragorram wore a white protective dressing on his left wing.

  “Ah! The look on General Nebrekathi’s face when I suddenly moved and got him on the finger with the stone!” Povon laughed as the squad gradually returned to full size, except for Kragorram. “I swear, I have never seen such a look of astonishment before, and likely never will again!”

  “Healers!” Somonik snapped, even as Povon was speaking.

  “I can’t believe my luck!” Silaran brayed. “All but eleven of my targets were sleeping!”

  “You were all damn lucky.” Ria snapped as she manifested, but she was smiling. “Doing that with no shielding beyond the psionic was as foolish as it was courageous.”

  “Maybe so,” Mark grinned, “But it was necessary for the stealth of it, and it worked. We can raise Shields quick enough if we have to.

  A comparatively small purple dragon appeared and immediately cast diagnostic spells on Kragorram, and she was joined by an elven healer as she did so. “What happened?” she asked.

  “An encounter with a caustic dragon.” he replied. “She detected me just as I acted, and caught me with a bit of her spew before her vow of justice took hold. I quickly washed it in the ocean, and my density in this form protected me to some extent. It still moves well, and the pain is manageable. I thought it best that I get it looked at before I resume my normal stature.”

  “Wise thinking.

  “Tell me Kragorram, why are you always the only one wounded on missions of The Six?”

  “Povon would tease me about perhaps having slightly slower reflexes than the others, but it is only chance. In training, I took fewer wounds than any except Silaran, and was killed on fewer occasions than the average for the squad.”

  “I see.” she chuckled. “The corrosive is acidic. All affected areas will need to be washed with a high-pressure spray of a mild alkaline solution, as you may have traces of the spew trapped beneath your scales. After you are washed, we will have you resume your full size before affecting the remainder of your treatment. You’ll have to come with us to The Draconian Military Hospice.”

  Kragorram turned to his leader. “I am unimpaired. Perhaps I should postpone this treatment. Things have gone better than we expected, and I am as eager as any to finish it. We should continue now.”

  “I think not.” Equemev disagreed. “We should give those we’ve just visited as many Compulsion stones as possible, and some time to organize and work. With luck, they could have the entire population of Serminak sworn to justice by this time tomorrow, which would assure our victory without another drop of blood being spilled. With a bit more luck, one of them might even tag Zarkog with a stone.”

  “Hm.” Mark nodded as he considered. “The only problem with that plan is that we may need the gods fully with us in order to beat the demons, so I have to beat Zarkog personally and convincingly. I don’t th
ink having him tagged with a Compulsion stone by some Sylvan would qualify.”

  He paused a moment, then turned to Somonik. “We’ve sworn about two hundred of Zarkog’s officers, including most of his top commanders. We also left them the five Compulsion stones, and they’re tagging their subordinates.

  “What’s been happening while we were busy doing that?”

  “The enemy attempted another terror raid an hour after you left. They seized a boatload of elves from southern Debivin who had decided that they simply had to go fishing. Zarkog sent ten million Sylvan and a million dragons to Shield their torturers, and they went to Gimoosh to provide an audience for their repulsive act of propaganda. This time we were not able to act before the Sylvan began torturing those elves, but we were quick enough to save their lives, and they healed well. We used a new variant on your automated, hair-thin attack spell that Yazadril, Nemia, Hilsith and Alilia designed, and for that reason Yazadril and Alilia were our attack wizards. It manifests as a tiny volume of destruction both as thin as a hair and only three inches in length. It penetrates shielding and skull, then forms a circle and spins around in the brain for a moment at eighty revolutions per second. Very energy efficient, and completely effective. And it creates far less mess than your version would have, I might add.

  “Twelve minutes later Zarkog reacted, and sent a force twenty times as strong. Two hundred and seven million Sylvan, nineteen million dragons. Although their methods are still much more crude than ours, they have begun applying the principle of concentration of power. The speed and suddenness of their attack was much improved as well. They attacked in Gimoosh, likely in an attempt to counter our triumph there just minutes before. They appeared above the civic government buildings in a tight sphere, all of them packed in as tightly as they could be and still breathe, in order to minimize the surface area of their co-operative spherical Shield. They attacked together as well, casting concentrated Fire on a small spot on the Wards and Shielding protecting the municipal complex below. They broke through and incinerated their target thoroughly, killing the mayor, every member of the civic assembly save two, and most of their staff, as well as some twenty thousand citizens.

  “I led the counter-attack myself, with Grakonexikaldoron as second attacker, since we are quickest in the application of psionics. We had over two and one third billion of us in the Link, including almost a billion magic-users from The Hidden Nation, who supplied power while being blocked from knowing exactly what was occurring with its use, at their request. We were too slow to prevent the attack, but we were quick enough to strike down the attackers to the last soul before they could make their escape. That was not such a meager accomplishment, since they had planned to strike and flee. Most of them had already begun to cast Translocation when they were felled, and if we’d been a twentieth of a second slower, they’d have gotten clean away.

  “Since that time, there have been no more attacks against us.

  “The techniques we are using now are at the very limits of most of our spell-casters’ abilities, and therein lies the certainty of our victory over Serminak. Their spell-casters are highly trained, but poorly educated. They use only a few hundred spells, but train with them as intensely as fencing-masters train with their swords. It requires the education of a Journeyman Wizard to even grasp the concepts inherent in automated spellcasting, and a Master Wizard to use them, and the Serminaki lack the mental flexibility. As well, almost none of them can cast remotely. As psionicists, many use Speaking, and are adept at psionic attack and defense, but the paranoid aggressiveness of their society has ensured that almost none of them are capable of casting a Link. They would strenuously object to participating in any Link, especially one so deep as is required to use the draw spells. Without those, they cannot match our concentration of power.”

  “All true, but don’t get too confident.” Mark nodded, thinking with fierce concentration. “We’ve learned the hard way that if you let them have some time, they’ll be surprising us with all sorts of horrors that we wouldn’t have thought of in a million years. We have to keep them off balance.

  “All right, we’ll strike while the iron is hot. Kragorram…”

  “We need a two hour break.” Talia interrupted.

  “Nah, I think we’re fresh enough HEY!!”

  Talia had sharply struck the back of his knee with the heel of her hand, painlessly collapsing his leg and almost tumbling him to the floor.

  He stared at her in shocked surprise. She was glaring at him, and her eyes glistened a bit with tears, but her voice was calm.

  “We need two hours. Preferably three. Or I will be unable to satisfactorily perform my duties. I have been resisting my condition for the last hour.” she stated.

  “I… see. Can you give me a few minutes?”

  “Make it fast.”

  “Somonik, have every spell-caster we have who isn’t crucial for defense Linked and ready in three hours. We’ll be back ten minutes before that.

  “Squad, your time is your own until then.”

  “The additional Compulsion stones?” Equemev asked. “If you make them up, it will only take the four of us a short while to deliver them. We’ll get at least a two-hour rest after that, and Kragorram can have his wing treated. You can see to Talia’s treatment once you’ve made the stones.”

  “Good thinking, and thanks.” Mark grinned sheepishly as he raised the great Truthstone. “Somonik, how many are available for the Link right now?”

  “We have everyone on standby. Almost three billion, and increasing as fast as we can teach the techniques.”

  “Have them get ready. I’ll take the Link in a moment.”

  He placed his palms on the godstone and poured power into it, and was rewarded by a rush of tinkling as a stream of small stones poured out the bottom. He scooped them up by Movement and lowered the godstone back into the dais.

  “Ware the flash!” he yelled, then took control of the Link and cast his spell. Surprisingly, there was no light or sound emitted as the swordstar appeared on both sides of each small stone, despite the incredible expenditure of power.

  “I blocked the flash, the heat, and the noise.” Povon shrugged. “They would have been dangerous to everyone here who isn’t Shielded.”

  “Thanks.” Mark chuckled, further chagrined by his failing to realize the danger. “Equemev, here’s a thousand Compulsion stones. I’m sure you’ll see them put to good use. Have the sworn in Serminak remain covert. When we need to distract Zarkog the most, we’ll have them declare for The Just Alliance. Sometime between three and four hours from now.”

  “And if they should have a chance to tag Zarkog?”

  “Have them take it, but only if they’re absolutely certain to succeed. It wouldn’t do to have them miss and be discovered before we’re ready.”

  “Right.”

  “And thanks, to you and to everyone. Our squad, Somonik and the other leaders, everyone in the Link right now, you’re all doing a fine job, better than we expected by far. In three hours we act, hopefully to strike the final blows in this conflict.”

  “We will be ready.” Somonik pronounced.

  “So will we.” Mark nodded, and picked one mind out of the multitudes in the Link.

  “Dilimon, if you and Yalla have a moment, we’d like to see our wedding present.”

  “Certainly.” Dilimon replied with a chuckle. “Here’s the reference. Cast a Light when you get there.”

  Mark, Talia and Ria disappeared, the rest of their squad having already left.

  They emerged from the jump in a roughly spherical cavern over a thousand feet high. Giant crystals of every color protruded into the space, ranging from the size of a fist to the size of a building. The glittering display was dazzling as their Light was reflected and refracted around the cavern a million times and more. They stood on a level six-sided facet that was thirty feet in its longest dimension, about a third of the way up f
rom the lowest point in the hollow space.

  Dilimon and Yalla appeared beside them.

  “It’s good to see you.” Talia said as she shared a hug with Yalla.

  “And we you.” Dilimon grinned as he looked around. “This is a geode. It was a bubble of vaporized rock made by the impact that formed First Valley, trapped hundreds of feet below the surface. When the vaporized rock slowly cooled and solidified against the inside of the bubble, it formed these crystal formations. We call it our Cavern of Crystal Contemplation. This is the only level spot of any size, but it’s well situated to provide a nice viewpoint. We hope you enjoy your time here. And since it is a wedding present, even though you still have to share it with us, I’ll take this opportunity to congratulate you again on your recent marriage.”

  “Thanks.” Mark grinned as he fondly clasped forearms with the Sentry. “Our wedding seems like yesterday, yet it somehow also seems like a million years ago already.”

  “We’ll leave you to your privacy.” Yalla smiled, noting the growing tension in Talia’s face. “Come, Dilimon.”

  With that they were gone.

  Over the next three seconds Talia had Summoned their bed from the cottage in Hilia, removed her and Mark’s clothing and items with spells, and produced a familiar four foot long rod, which she handed to Mark.

  “Our wonderful blessing is still a damned curse.” she stated bitterly as she climbed onto the bed. “It would have been fine if we’d attended to it an hour ago, but I didn’t want both of us to have to abandon the mission. This is one problem that the Eldest never simulated in training. The need is upon me with growing urgency, and I can wait no longer. I need it bad, my love. Make me scream. Make me scream a lot.”

  He sighed regretfully, but did as she asked for almost thirty minutes. And then they held each other closely and cried together. Then they made gentle love for over an hour, and then they cried again.

  There was no sign of that when they returned to The Hall of The Assembly. They appeared well fed and refreshed, their arms and armor perfectly cleaned and polished.

  Kragorram’s recent wounds were only visible as slight discolorations of his scales.

  Within a minute, everyone was assembled, everything was ready. The cavernous room was full to capacity, and buzzing with excited conversation.

  “Somonik, report please.” Mark crisply requested.

  “A wave of thousands of small accidents has occurred in Serminak, disrupting their activities, almost certainly courtesy of those who are sworn to justice there. They have still made no more attacks against us.

  “We have made great strides. Of all the discoveries you six made during your training, the most important is not one of the things you said you would teach us. It is your improvements in Linking multiple minds and transferring information that has led to most of our breakthroughs since your return. We have found a way to tap the inherent magic of the Kwetkerthok, though none of them are spell-casters in the conventional sense, and have also found that every Bojudai can contribute, since they are also a highly magical race, though only one tenth of them are wizards. We have also found that our junior wizards who are not psionicly capable of participating in the Link can still contribute by sharing their power with one who is Linked, via what you would refer to as conventional ‘push’ and ‘pull’ type power transference spells.

  “Thus, almost everyone with enough magic to light a candle in the entirety of The Just Alliance stands ready to lend you their power. The total is difficult to quantify, but I would estimate it to be equivalent to the efforts of some five billion human Journeyman-class wizards. Those who lack magic have been equipped with every available magic item and tool, and they stand ready to defend our lands during this momentous action.”

  “Wow. That is impressive.” Mark grinned. “I’ll take the Link. Thank you.”

  When next he spoke, he addressed the room as well as the billions who were listening over the Link. “Honored citizens of The Just Alliance. With your help, I intend to call Zarkog out and beat him into submission in the most public manner possible. But first we’ll demonstrate our power, and intimidate the Serminakis a bit, just so they know where they stand.

  “Talia and I will go to Serminak and stir up trouble until Zarkog shows up. This might be tricky, since Zarkog is one the few people who is able to avoid the Eldest’s awareness, and is the only one the Eldest can’t Read at all, so we’ve never fought an accurate version of him before. Luckily, he’s the only such case among the enemy. We’ll use your power for our defense, as well as our attack. The rest of our squad will be several hundred feet above us, watching carefully but remaining undetectable. If we run into something we can’t handle, they’ll take control of the Link and see that we’re extracted. If necessary after that, Somonik and his crew will assume command and control of the Link. But that only happens if we’re rendered unconscious or yell for help.

  “If the enemy attacks our territory while we’re doing this, we’ll break off the operation just long enough to deal with the incursion, then return to what we were doing.

  “Are we ready? Then here we go.”