“What she did to me?”
“You’re joking.”
Evan said, “When she raped you.”
“Oh, she did not.”
More than one of the women gasped.
Ranie said, “Um, let’s see, she forced you to have sex with her against your will.”
“But she didn’t intend any harm.”
“Donnie, that is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
He looked to Rapture for help. She was in shock.
Evan said, “Such a dork.”
Visor said, “It wasn’t her fault. I mean, come on, guys, with the whole Mortal Banshee thing?”
Rapture rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Evan asked, “You think Maciate plays for the other team?”
Visor said, “No! I mean, it’s not even about that anyway.”
“She controlled your mind, and you don’t even care. I can’t believe this.” Ranie got in his face. “She took away your free will for her personal benefit. What is the definition of wrong? Look, she’s my friend, but even I have to admit she has a dark side.”
“Well, I guess it depends on the whole situation.”
“You mean whether or not she’s small and skinny?”
“No. I don’t know. I mean … Rap did and it was no big deal.” Oh, crap! “Wait, that’s not what I meant.”
Rapture said, “Oh! If you think we—you just—oh, I don’t even know—”.
“I mean, that was different, of course, because I asked you to.” There was no good way out of this.
“That’s right it was different!” Rapture was still fuming. “You just—”
Finnur said, “Perhaps we should focus on war efforts.”
Visor said, “Maybe we should look at Raykez first. We could arrest Nero, seize the Silent Oratory and put it under the control of the Sanctuary. If we could break White Heart’s coalition with the Com, then the Symphonic Knights would be freed up to form the core of a new army. Of course, this would already have been done if we’d known we had a telepath the first time we were Raykez.”
“Oh!” Ranie looked ready to fight.
“Just kidding.” Visor waved defensively. “But there’s urgency with Xandria. It is almost surrounded and Krafer’s won’t hold out long. Some sirens have already been captured. Perhaps we should go straight there and do what we can to reinforce Krafer’s.”
Rapture said, “They have the riding albatrosses—in Xandria, I mean.”
“Yes, they are evacuating some of the young ones, and some of the Xandrians. The albatrosses can’t carry most of the adults.”
Ranie asked, “Are you getting that from the tower?”
“I can read where the conjoins are, except some that are shielded.”
Ranie asked, “So you want to evacuate the sirens?”
Evan said, “We could use the boat.”
Visor said, “But the Virtuosa doesn’t fly.”
“Hugh?”
Ranie said, “It’s a different lake, dumbass. You’d have to go up Chiming Falls to get to Xandria Lake.”
Evan narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, well, you kissed your cousin.”
“So did you.”
“A lot of people experiment in college.”
“But you weren’t in college.”
“Ho-bag.”
Rapture said, “So getting kicked out of Xandria may not matter for long anyway.”
Visor said, “Maybe, but she didn’t want to take the chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lara—well, I was going to try to get a prediction of my own before saying anything, and I thought it best to tell you in private first. But we’re all here now. There was a proxy in Xandria that collected some information on Lara. Lara believes you are going to do something important.”
“With the war?”
“More important than that, from the view of a Konigin.”
“Like what?” Everyone was waiting now.
“Okay, we knew she was using oracles. And the way that works is just percentages, right? So she was just doing something that she though would help make one of the predictions be more likely come true. She didn’t want you to settle in Xandria, or even have that as an option.”
“The Banshee?”
“I’m sure that was part of it, but defeating the Banshee was mostly something Europhette wanted from you. This is something for Lara—for all sirens, all nymphs. Realize this is third-hand information, so I’m not sure what elements are true. Being a prediction, you never know. There are so many variables.”
“I know, Don. You’ve told me.”
Ranie said, “Just tell us, Donnie.”
“Okay.” He took Rapture’s hand. “Lara saw a prediction in which a Natalia-a, with the help of an oracle, found the Trail of Sapphires and followed it to rediscover Wacken. There, she found a tribe of banshee and made possible the reunification of the Nymph Nation.”
Rapture was stunned.
“I wasn’t even sure whether or not to tell you. Obviously, she thought it best not to.”
“I know, Don.” Rapture repeated words he’d said to her times previous. “It is unlikely, and unless we know what to do, there’s no sense wasting time on it.” She let it sink in. “But if you find out something else, I want you to let me know.”
“Then I will. Also, the druid council has renounced your title of Red Flame. You will henceforth be known as ‘Scarlet Fox of Augusta’, at least in Xandria.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.” Rapture looked at the sky. “If I’d known that being tortured and fighting demons would lose me that title, I would have done it years ago.”
“Rap!” Ranie laughed out loud.
Visor said, “Now that was a good one.”
Rapture waved him off dismissively. “Okay, go on with your war thing.”
Visor said, “All right, on with the ‘war thing’. If Xandria didn’t demand immediate action, I’d like to get the Virtuosa refitted first. It would be a good mobile base, good transportation, and maybe useful for blockading WaterCrescent.”
Finnur furrowed his eyebrows. “Blockade the Cove with one ship? A concert ship? Wouldn’t the Ardor Crest alone sink us, along with everything else Raykez has?”
“It would be upgraded.”
“Upgraded?”
“For one thing, we’d plate the hull with polarized melodic metal. We’d install some auto loading ballistae for close combat, and a rail gun for range targets and coastal bombardment.”
Ranie said, “An armored cruiser.”
Evan said, “Wouldn’t you sink?”
Visor said, “That depends on how we shape it and how much metal we used. Obviously, we can’t make it solid metal. We would make it so that it wouldn’t sink.”
Finnur said, “But attaching the metal … forging it … and what do you mean ‘polarized’?”
Ranie said, “It’s an electrical state. It’s Fragment technology.”
Finnur said, “You know what he’s talking about?”
Ranie shrugged. “I downloaded Mercy’s memory. I know how pixies refract light. I understand the Proxy Realm, why only some of us have conjoins and why the nightingale sings. Yes, I know what he’s talking about.”
Finnur said, “Speaking of, has anyone seen Pixie?”
Visor said, “Not since Evan’s seizure. Maybe he just had enough and went home.”
Ranie said, “Maybe he was afraid of catching something, after the way Athian and Evan got sick.”
“Maybe.” Visor said, “We’d also want a powered propulsion system. The main limitation to all of this is the power source.”
Ranie said, “You need a generator—an interface to hook up to conjoins. Or some vardal.”
Visor nodded slowly. “I think we can find the tools and components in the catacombs below the tower.”
Rapture asked, “What catacombs?
”
Visor said, “Remember how the forge has that underground storage shed?”
“I guess. You may have mentioned it.”
“I’m not sure if we ever discussed it.” Visor said, “Anyway, it is a lot more extensive than Mercy suggested. It connects to a network of catacombs. We have access to laboratories and assembly tools.”
Ranie said, “We can perform large-scale, fine machining on metals that are heat treated to the microstructure state of our specification. The limits of what we can do with this are bounded by our imagination.”
“And finding a power source.”
“And time.”
“What I really need, more than anything, is an engineer—a really sharp one—to run all of this.”
Evan said, “Hey Meole. You’re pretty smart.”
“Thanks, Ev.” Ranie tried to hide a smile. “I’ll think about it.”
Evan said, “Well, I guess I could do it … I just have to, oh, I don’t know ….”
Visor said, “Actually, I need you back in Raykez, to keep an eye on things there.”
Ranie said, “And Quenton needs to help Renaurd with the Dodelige. There is still some preparation work to do before we reveal the Ring.” She touched the Ring of Uncreation gently.
Evan said, “Okay, I didn’t really want to be an engineer, anyway.”
Visor looked to Finnur. “The Virtuosa will need a medical officer. And we’ll need a neurobiologist.”
“Well, I don’t know how much of that I can help with. I’ll see what I can do. The university can get along without me for a semester. I’ll need to notify the wife.”
“It’s a big enough ship if she wants to join you.”
“Oh, I doubt that will be a consideration. She’s not a fan of water. Thanks, though—I’ll ask.”
Ranie said, “We need a dock. With a warehouse. And cranes. And a forge, or exclusive contract with a forge. And a staff of at least twenty … five, with at least a few vardal, and an alfanar.”
Finnur said, “Then we’re talking months, overall—weeks just to get the contracts in place.”
Visor said, “There may be a way to short cut that. The Com is going to be under investigation. I’m guessing at least one of the major merchants will have assets seized.”
Finnur considered for a time. “I believe merchant Conner has the described infrastructure in his compound.”
Ranie said, “Then we start there.”
Visor sat back and looked around the table at his friends. “The Mortal Banshee is destroyed and the proxy war is over.”
Rapture put her hand on his knee.
Ranie smiled in relief.
Finnur nodded.
Visor said, “Let’s get WaterCrescent back.”
###
Thanks
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Thanks,
Jonathon Magnus
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