Shards Of Unity: Center Of Unity, #1 46k3f

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For all those who didn't give up on me.

Or haven't.

Part 1

One

He stood halted on the path.

Kole Smith was out for an early run, though late enough in the morning that the birdsong had trailed off into occasional snatches. It was already warmer than he liked, full into an eastern Kentucky summer that felt too long already.

The trail stretched out before and behind him.

There was another split up ahead as it branched through and around and over the folds and turns of the long wooded holler. The obscuring foliage of a developed second growth forest, mostly oak and maple here, constricted the world of his vision to the tunnel of the dirt path and perhaps a dozen feet beyond.

“What the—?”

The words escaped him in a gasp and every hair on his body was on end as he stood there. He tossed his hatchet from hand to hand and then became still, settling his stance into a ready form, with a brief glance down at the tool to check it.

Because of the heat of the morning coming on and in a habit of general simplicity, he had nothing with him but a pair of shorts and the all-metal tool

with its leather-wrapped grip. Today he had not even bothered with shoes, choosing to pay the small price in pain and discomfort to toughen up feet grown soft from urban living.

The hatchet itself was a bit of an affectation, but there were always branches and limbs down on the trails somewhere and the normally safe woods did have an occasional black bear wandering through.

Not that he expected to survive a bear attack at close quarters, but at least with the hatchet he might hope to take the ornery beast right along with him in death —and spare the next person from meeting a people-killer.

The mind takes strange turns after spending enough time alone. He stilled his wandering thoughts as well, to just take in the world.

At that moment he was more concerned with the dead silence that had fallen over the woods. There was no wind. No noise from animal or insect. And a feeling, like a sound that was not a sound, was emanating, pulsing, shivering along his bones and coming from somewhere between earth and sky and his own spirit.

It was everywhere, but it did not touch the nature around him. The ground did not quake, though he felt it should be shaking itself apart. The trees stood still, though he felt they would burst into flame to consume the deep wrongness that had overtaken the world. It seemed as though even the clouds above had stopped their drift, as if the sky were about to burst open—

It ceased.

The wrongness did not trail off but instead abruptly ended. He felt as though the world was somehow slanted until he shook himself and it snapped back into focus. Birds exploded into flight in every direction, crying their noise against the sky. He sank to his knees on the trail and breathed deep, waiting, wondering.

Sounds in a holler follow strange paths. They echo off the enfolding ridges in a pattern as irregular and complex as the holler itself and are affected by the trees as well.

He was on a ridge trail along the northern edge of the property. Somewhere ahead, no telling exactly where, he heard what sounded like pick and shovel, like many of them going at once.

Though very weirded out by what had just happened, he was still curious at this. So he eased to his feet and started forward. Nothing had happened to the world that he could see—but it felt as though everything had changed.

Then someone had started digging.

He kept a very slow pace moving generally west along the ridge, placing one still foot in front of the other as he watched and listened.

***

Perhaps an hour later Kole had come abreast of the sounds that had continued

unabated as he moved.

He stood on a little saddle in the ridge, where the valleys of new hollers opened up to north and south both. The sounds were coming from below, echoing up the north valley and from not very far, though the trees and brush kept vision close.

He had stopped to consider, as he would be going off his patch. Yet that parcel was mostly unused, just a sometime hunting spread. The noise of what sounded like hand powered excavation had continued throughout, interspersed with a very deep growling voice barking unintelligible imperatives.

He still felt a shiver up and down his spine thinking about whatever it was that had happened. Which had immediately preceded these decidedly odd noises. There was no reason for anyone to be digging in these hills, much less by hand.

He doubted that any of the generally sedentary locals had gotten into a tearing hurry to tap into the not very rich coal beds that follow the folds of these hollers.

Ah hell, he thought, I was getting bored anyway.

He had come out here to detach from the complications of technological living, which spending time camping on a wooded extended property in the hills of eastern Kentucky will greatly facilitate. There were three places he could get a cell signal on the property, and not a very strong one. There was a well he could use, but the pump house was a good quarter mile from his campsite.

Despite working himself hard during the day, clearing brush, repairing trails, and laying in firewood for the owners, he still had trouble getting to sleep at night. Too many thoughts of city life, of his web projects, of friends and of love.

All left behind for the sake of this retreat from the world.

Moving off the trail, he stalked north down the moderate slope and into the trees.

Roughly halfway to the bottom he paused at the flat of an old logging road, overgrown now, to peek around a tree as thick around as his waist and peer through the undergrowth toward the continuing noise.

Noise—a loud, bellowing voice shouted out on his left and his head snapped over to look.

A very large, almost naked, greyish skinned not-man was running at him along the flat, carrying a long club in one hand and ignoring the brush, only jinking aside for the trees. It was mostly ferns under the tree cover but the not-man smashed through rougher brush as well.

Kole sucked in a breath and the world went sharp and slow.

He smelled cordite and then nothing as he swayed around to face the charge— his curiosity over the noises, trepidation from the weirdness, and instinctive fear at this sudden aggression, everything, burned away past nothingness in an instant. The world was one moment and he was all of it.

His mind was still.

The thing's limbs moved with a burly grace as it continued toward him at a full run. A brief loincloth, tan in contrast to the hairless dull grey body, snapped out as it detoured a big maple. There was a flash of red, like a jewel, at its waist. Its wide mouth snarled, on a head that seemed a bit too small for the body, showing flat brown teeth below a nose that was a mere slit in its face.

The eyes, large and black with just narrow bands of white, focused straight at him as the creature moved.

He eased to the left of the tree as it came into range, letting his knees bend and then pushing off, back and to the right as it swung two-handed what looked like a metal club, tipped with a featureless ball the size of his two fists together.

The arc of the weapon was aimed to smash him against the tree but instead crashed into it directly. He spun around the bole, fast. The tree shivered audibly with impact as he moved around it.

The creature was already recovering from what had seemed an unbalanced swing, its eyes wide as Kole's right arm came around at a forty–five and high to strike.

The hatchet followed the torque of his whole body ed to the momentum of his move around the tree, burying itself between the knobby round bones at the base of that stout neck.

There was a flash of heat as Kole moved close to that muscled body and another, much stronger flash as his hatchet swung into it, along with a buzz like a twenty pound hornet.

He let go the handle, which still felt like a live fence wire, as he moved back to let the suddenly limp body of the creature fall to the ground. The wound leather of the grip was smoking, just a wisp but there.

He stood there unmoving for a brief time, shocked and looking down at the thing. It was limp now but still bulky with smooth grey muscle as it lay there face down at his feet.

Soon enough he felt the shakes coming on, but they fell away and his mind settled back into clarity and stillness as he heard more bellowing voices like the first, a dozen of them and all around him.

A quick look back up the slope showed two of them barreling down from the top and the other way were three more pushing hard uphill. Others were coming from either side on the flat toward the tip of the shallow vee where he stood.

Kole hopped, planting his feet on either side of the hatchet embedded in that knobby spine, gripping the leather with both hands as he sprung upward from the crouch. The metal slid free with him and his feet found the ground again before he put his back to the slim tree. He noted the heat of the tool, not quite hot enough to burn his hands. The cumbersome club was still on the ground if he needed it.

His mind drank in the world as he searched for a new pattern of action.

He was about to dart downhill to see if he could jump past the three coming up, in the hope that those on the flat were too close to cut him off, when every one of the charging forms came to an abrupt halt.

Just after that a new voice called out a nonsense phrase in a high tenor, almost a soprano.

The grey creatures eased up after that, sidling around and forward a bit more before stopping again, forming a circle with him at the center. Rough, given the terrain, but cutting off chances of escape while they stood ready. He was still, seeing long odds and no good angle to play. The things were just too fast to break past them while they were all set and watching.

Beyond the creatures, another figure strolled toward him down one arm of the vee of the flat.

It tossed its head as the eyes studied him, shoulder length blond hair swaying out from a thin face with large eyes like glinting sapphires and sensuous lips set in a cruel sneer above a pointed chin. Arms clad in scales of a bronze metal emerged from a deep red plain tunic trimmed in black and obviously covering a full shirt of that same protection. Legs clad in the same scale went down to meet high boots covered in more of the same. The hands wore gauntlets in a similar style, though the scales seemed much finer and were absent from the leather palms. The left hand rested on an odd rounded leather cup mounted on the belt and balanced on the other side by a sheathed dagger. The right hand toyed with the hilt of a weapon jutting at an angle over the right shoulder in a baldric carry.

The pommel of that sword was mounted with a red stone that reminded Kole of the one at the waist of the creature he had killed. He could see similar stones at the waist of each of the creatures around him. They gave an intense red glow that looked to come from the center of the stones, like an LED inside a clear marble.

Still moving with no hurry, the armored figure seemed to be savoring the moment as it slipped between two of the creatures and stopped, maybe three long paces away from him.

It slowly eased a slightly curved sword from the sheathe on its back and held it ready in one hand. The sword was a bronze color as well, or maybe copper, though it shone bright next to the dull scales of the armor. With the sword out there seemed to be a hint of a glow around the figure, that vision of some ancient warrior. Like the sun ed through a tinted lens before reaching it.

It spoke a longer phrase than the first, more nonsense, and then waited, the eyes watching his.

Those eyes had stopped glinting now and he could see that they had no whites, only orbs in shades of blue with slit black pupils, but still sparkling a bit as though off of faceted surfaces. The figure stood a few inches shorter than his own wiry six feet and was somewhat broader and seemed well muscled under the armor. The ears were covered by the hair now, but when glimpsed had reminded him of the whirl of a seashell with distinct points at the tips.

As Kole waited in a half crouch with limbs hanging loose, those lips curled upward into a superior smile and it spoke again. The words came out English this time, but very slow and with an odd accent, slurred and sharp at once.

"Fight me, or die. Yes?"

As it spoke it raised the sword and moved the point around at the circle of creatures around him, tapping the cup at its waist with its left hand as it did so. The creatures, all at once, let out a basso roar and then fell silent.

A thought floated across the stillness of Kole's mind. This prick seems to be enjoying himself. He's not a bear but I guess he'll have to do.

"Yes."

After the single word he straightened slowly and moved toward the other side of the rough circle, ostensibly stretching his arms and back, twisting his torso as he let his eyes and ears and skin soak in the world.

The creatures forming the circle all at once grounded their clubs in front of them, resting one hand on top and another over the gems at their waists. They otherwise maintained the odd motionless stance kept since forming the circle.

Kole looked around slowly as he appeared to ready himself, taking in the dozen or so grey skinned creatures around the circle and the dead one in the middle.

They were all dressed in those brief tan loincloths that he could see was leather of some sort. All had identical long clubs, maces really, grey and smooth— maybe steel or iron and maybe not. The creatures showed some variation, with heights ranging up to nearly eight feet from maybe seven, though all with thick

builds not heavy enough to make them seem squat. The faces were difficult to tell apart but still had individual quirks.

As he took in all this and more in the space of those moments he noticed a… film, or curtain, there but not there, of a red color that reminded him of the gem things. It seemed to phase in and out of sight and defined the same circle boundary as the grey creatures.

There but not there, like it was in the stillness of his mind instead of before his eyes.

He thought of the warmth still felt through the leather hatchet grip and discarded the option of darting between two of the creatures to run. It had seemed a slim chance anyway but with the speed he could put on he thought he might at least have gotten past and away for a time—except for the presence of what might be a barrier and might be something worse.

He turned his attention back to the armored figure, thinking of the flash of heat as he had neared the first creature, dead now, and the greater flash as he moved into it with metal.

This elf-thing's head was uncovered and seemed vulnerable, but somehow he didn't think that it was. It still had that reddish half-glow around it.

Those lips curled back into a sneer as those glinting eyes watched him watching it. The cup on that belt could hold a much larger stone than the one on the pommel of the sword, or those carried by the grey creatures.

Kole raised his eyes to the sky and took in that clear summer blue. A good day, he thought, feeling a hint of wistful emotion drift around him in the stillness.

At last, he settled into a stance in line with the armored figure, waiting. It spoke a few words, nonsense again, then moved forward with a serpentine grace, putting the dead creature and that slim tree on its left as it curved toward him.

Those eyes gleamed and sparkled deep blue with the renewed motion.

He curved away, moving right and keeping the distance, then feinted in to just out of sword reach, half raising the hatchet and then back-pedaling as those feet stilled and the sword lifted.

He moved forward again as it started to follow him back, going through the same motions but then back faster and toward the tree. Toward the only other weapon in the circle, that grey club that the figure had deemed fit to arm its own retainers with.

Those lips tightened slightly as it started forward again, somewhat swifter than before.

Kole's right arm snapped around and the hatchet spun forward in an arc, forming a circle of its own as it shot toward the sword arm and he blurred forward right behind it.

The bright mirrored copper finish of the sword blade twisted through a parry, deflecting the hatchet into a higher trajectory and over the shoulder.

There was a sharp red flash and he could feel heat like a fire on his face as he grasped that sword arm at the wrist with his check hand and plunged his right through suddenly burning molten air to pluck the dagger from its sheathe.

Underhand and quick as breathe the dagger snapped across the waist, into the leather of the cup and also the palm of the left gauntlet.

He could smell again, his own burning hair and flesh, as that left hand jerked away and a hiss escaped those lips.

That damned strong right arm forced itself inward against his push, the blade felt as a line of white fire as it slowly entered his back. That mouth set into a snarl as the gleaming blue eyes squinted in pain from the wound to its left hand.

Kole's own eyes were slits against the mounting heat, only moments old and rising fast, his sight a blur as tears poured forth. He twisted the dagger and popped free a sphere of blazing light, twice the diameter of those the creatures wore but seemingly too small to contain its light, red like the pulsing haze of the fire that was burning his body.

As he saw it, something changed in his mind and he let go the dagger hilt to snatch the gem from the air.

Touching it, he felt the fire all around him moving in to the very stillness of his mind.

No, he thought, and instead his stillness consumed the fire.

Then his slow world stopped entirely in a flash of the blazing red of the gem, followed by a white light that rose forth from inside nothingness, and then a darkness that swallowed it all.

Two

International Space Station, tracking above the Indian Ocean. 1430 GMT the next day.

Cassandra Di Cristoforo was working through her task list—checking on some routine astronomical sightings—when the anomaly occurred. As she watched, the reading outputs on her tablet began to return random variables. Then the display on the tablet flickered in time with the overhead lights.

She looked up with a frown, then over at a crewmate. "Sergei, do we have any excessive solar activity incoming?"

"No, nothing, no break in the solar cycle…"

The cosmonaut was staring at a pair of displays rippling with bands of interference patterns. He tapped off the wall and began navigating to the module hatch.

"I will check on the power supply and the servers."

As he exited the hatch the lights cut off, as did all of the screens and indicators. Cassandra was left in near darkness, the only illumination a diffuse glow from an exterior port. She looked down at her tablet and tried the power button, then

pulled out her phone to find it dead as well.

The voices of her crewmates began to ring out and she called out her location and status, but then pulled over to the port to check the exterior view. The station appeared intact from her angle, where she could see a few of the modules and a solar extension.

Looking out past that, she saw glory.

Blurring rings of iridescent light appeared to be rotating like a gyroscope around a hole in space—like a black ball of nothingness. The orbit was not matching, but it was just above the station and moving only a bit slower on roughly the same vector.

Her eyes widened as she took in the internal light patterns of the rings and murmured to herself, "Almost like a rainbow in fractal form…"

She hugged herself, using a foot hooked on a staple set in the floor to keep her position at the port, but stayed silent and watched as the anomaly seemed to grow. All of her instruments were digital and powerless and she had no work more important than observation.

Sounds from the other crew were ongoing as they chattered at each other about the anomaly or about working on the power issue. A NASA crewmate was repeatedly attempting to raise communications with his mission control in a loud and steady voice, though with what she presumed was unpowered radio equipment.

As she gazed at the occurrence, eyes open wide and wearing a slight smile, the intensity of the rainbow light seemed to spike before it abruptly cut off.

The sun was partially eclipsed by the bulk of the earth, but in the angled sunlight she could see that in the place of the anomaly drifted a dodecahedron, oddly bluish in color—but clearly an artificial construction of some sort.

A grin spread across her face as she thought, first .

A smaller form detached from the larger shape and her sense of scale shifted as she identified a craft of some sort. There were no propulsive emissions evident from her angle, but lines of glowing amber light pulsed from front to back along the smooth oblong form.

As it moved closer to the station she made out transparent viewports, including a big one at the very front with humanoid figures evident even from her vantage.

The incoming craft was larger than the entire station and the dodecahedral shape was far larger still. The anomaly had been more distant from the station than she realized with naked vision alone.

It moved closer very quickly but then slowed and began maneuvering toward the main airlock. She watched a bit longer, taking it all in, then launched herself through the module hatch and navigated to the crowd at the lock, smiling through the uncertainty and doubt she saw on a few other faces.

Behind her, some Roscosmos and NASA crewmates were discussing whether or not to distribute weapons. She looked back over her shoulder with a frown, then faced forward again.

Sergei waved at her through the small crowd.

"There is no power, nothing. The batteries will not even discharge and I cannot get readings on anything without instruments. There must be a connection. Some sort of disruption effect from their technology?"

"I do not think that we can assume anything yet," Cassandra replied, "but hopefully soon—"

She cut off as the lock cycled open. Bulky suited figures immediately wedged metal bars into the hatch runners, blocking the mechanism from closing. She took this in just as she drank in every other detail of the figures in the lock.

A smaller figure, almost tiny in an articulated suit with the helmet latched up, stood between hulking figures with bestial grinning faces visible through their faceplates. The small xeno spoke, showing triangular but flattened teeth in a mouth set below double sets of eyes.

"Greetings. As this realm is being brought into the Center of Unity, your primitive orbital station is hereby claimed by the Family Jorlin. As are your persons. Fear not, however, as Family Jorlin recognizes that you represent exceptional of your species and thus you will be captured unharmed.

May I be the first to welcome you into the glorious civilization of the Center."

Cassandra tilted her head with a feeling of puzzlement at hearing the speech delivered in English, accented but smooth. Behind the brutes, already moving forward, and the small figure, she could see another standing at the back of the airlock. It was slender but tall and fully suited.

Through the faceplate she saw almond shaped eyes that almost seemed to glow with an inner green light.

Three

He awakened.

Sounds intruded on Kole's darkness, pushing back the peace of oblivion as a shrill voice yelled out sharp phrases he still did not understand but that were starting to sound more familiar.

He inhaled a slow breath through his nose, feeling his lungs fill and his chest swell, and opened his eyes.

The sun was almost overhead, winking through the leaves above him. He was lying half-twisted on his back with his right arm stretched out over his head. The grey creatures were standing in a tighter circle around him, but facing out with their backs to him.

He started to sit up but then groaned as every muscle in his body seemed to cramp up at once.

The feeling ed swiftly but he gasped in and out, waiting for more pain, before sitting up slowly and looking around. What was left of the hatchet was lying beside him on his left. Most of the head was gone, ending in a melted line. The steel of the haft was twisted and bent, blackened and bare of leather.

His right hand was wrapped tight around the crystal orb he had taken from the elf-figure—who was lying dead on that side, face half burned away with most of the remaining hair charred to black. He could see an ear clearly now. It did come to a point at the tip but was not much elongated. Nor did it resemble a human ear very closely in detail, though it must serve the same function. The red tunic was mostly burned off but the armor seemed almost untouched, as did the sword still gripped in a blackened right hand.

The smell hit him suddenly, not the sweet pork smell of burnt human flesh but close, mingled with the stench of bowels loosened in death. He turned his head away and vomited onto the hatchet and leaf litter and smashed ferns that he lay upon.

The sharp acid seared a throat which last he ed had been charred and deadened from a light like fire during the fight.

He lurched to his feet and took a step away from the corpse and what was left of his breakfast, running his free hand over a bare scalp and looking down at his body. His hair was gone. His body hair was gone. Even stubble and eyebrows were missing. His skin was pinkish and tender like a cut just healed.

His shorts were just gone.

"Ah-hemmm."

A throat cleared noisily behind him and he turned, putting aside his half-stunned realization of hairless nudity.

A short…person was standing just beyond the circle of still unmoving grey creatures, arms crossed and tapping its foot, giving a very good impression of exasperated impatience.

It stood no higher than his waist, clothed in a pleated robe of the same red trimmed in black as the dead elf-thing, with tannish sandals bound with laces wrapping up around the feet and ankles. Its toes ended in what might have been claws if they were not neatly clipped close to the toe.

Its face—there were four eyes, each with a plain black cornea surrounded by a dull grey 'white'. The lower eyes peered through a stylish pair of gold-rimmed spectacles that appeared to be affixed, rather than perched upon a missing nose, by short ties to the…thin flesh colored tendrils that it had in place of hair, which were held back from its face by a red ribbon. Its skin tone was a light tan with just a hint of green.

The very thin lips were pursed as it regarded him. Then they opened in speech, after it gave a little bow to begin.

"Shard-holder and fief-lord, I am Shondrub Lobsal, your majordomo and general factotum, contracted to this household by the Family—" its eyes flicked down for a moment and then back up as it gathered speed once more, "—of the former holder of your office. I do hope to continue in your employ as well, which we may discuss later. At the moment, however, and for the previous several hours, work on your new keep has ceased, as the access paths to your Shard have been wiped clear by the transfer of dominion over it."

It paused, top pair of eyes blinking just before the bottom pair.

"I am a Svart. My species, that is. I do hope you understand my words? I prepared myself with the English of our target land area, as that is where the Bridge was supposed to transition us, but these things are never completely certain…?" This trailed off as it looked at him expectantly, head tilted to one side.

The voice was high pitched but clearly intelligible, with almost no accent to its carefully enunciated words. As it spoke Kole noticed double rows of small teeth, which appeared to have been trimmed somehow, as with the toe claws and the similar nails at the end of its small be-ringed hands.

There was a ripple in his thoughts as the being spoke, and a small twinge in his right hand, but then both ceased. For a moment he just stood there, bemused.

Seems like a good time to just go with it, for now at least. The music has changed, but I can still dance this dance. The thoughts seemed strange as they drifted through his mind.

But I'm still naked.He glanced down speculatively at the corpse, horror pushed away as his mind moved on, then around at the loincloths of the grey creatures, ending with another look at the short…Svart's robe. So this one will be brazened out in the buff.

"All right—Shondrub is it?"

At the Svart's nod he continued, "I will get to fixing the Shard paths in a

moment, but for now I require some instruction."

"Yes, fief-lord?" It stopped tapping one foot and unfolded its arms.

"What are these grey creatures, who do they answer to now and how, and where do they and all of you come from?"

He threw out the questions at it, watching to see how it would take the barrage.

Shondrub did the double blink again, the lower eyes magnified larger by the spectacles, then nodded twice before speaking.

"These are Tegma, fief-lord. Your Tegma, as they are bound to the Shard you now hold, through which you command them. They come from—the Tegma as a species are tub grown. That is, they do not reproduce sexually but instead are spawned through a Shard-driven recombinent process that is somewhat technical in nature."

The small mouth worked from side to side with uncertainty, then continued, "Svart and Vanyr," with a glance downward, "reproduce sexually, of course, just as I understand your own species does." A glance at Kole's own exposed organs was quickly redirected.

"I am a male Svart, as this was a male Vanyr, which means…" He paused again. "Does that answer your questions, fief-lord?"

"Not quite, Shondrub, although the clarifications are useful. What I wish to know is, where did the…bridge transition you all from?" Kole asked with what he hoped was an encouraging nod. He noticed that the green tinge of the Svart's skin had deepened slightly.

The response was hurried. "Of course, of course, fief-lord. What I mean to say is, the Bridge transitioned us from the Realm Solve, as we are here to claim this new fief for Family Atlag…that is, to claim your new fief for…yourself, as you have no Family or affiliation in the Unity…"

At this point he seemed to break down somewhat, briefly hopping from one foot to the other while the hands waved about.

"To be honest with you, fief-lord, I am somewhat confused by the circumstances. To my knowledge there are currently no other Shard-holders, save the blessed Anu himself, who are not Vanyr. There was no expectation that any indigenous species of this realm could assert dominion over one and thus hold fief. I have only my own knowledge and prepared procedures to fall back upon—

"—but I will make whatever new arrangements you require, of course, to fulfill the expectations of my House and to do the Company Lobsal proud." There was a clear break in the panicked demeanor after the first several statements, and by the end of this the Svart was standing stiffly upright, hands folded primly before it. "Do you have further questions, fief-lord?"

Steady on, Kole thought. One thing follows another.

"So, you're saying that the only requirement for someone to be your fief-lord is

that they are holding on to the Shard in my hand? Why don't these Tegma just grab it from me?"

Still maintaining his carefully aloof demeanor, the Svart replied.

"That is not the case, fief-lord. While physically holding a Shard is somewhat indicative, as there have been many cases where physical with a Shard by the unauthorized resulted in bodily immolation, the conclusive evidence in this case is given by the behavior of the Tegma. Their battle-orbs are linked to the Shard in a manner which is not severed by a sudden change of dominion, unlike the rest of our Shard-driven equipment."

He glanced briefly behind himself, north toward the floor of the holler valley, before continuing.

"The Tegma, absent any orders, have taken up ive guard positions around you. They would not do so if you were not the Shard-holder. We would know very clearly if there were no Shard-holder at present, as they would be free of their battle-oaths and would be rather energetically pursuing various…natural proclivities.

"Furthermore, it seems clear to me that the current situation is the result of a battle challenge. Bersi Atlag challenged you to battle, which you must have accepted. The battle is concluded and you are alive while Bersi is dead. You have claimed his Shard and his fief. Unity law is clear on these matters."

The voice took on a somewhat reverent tone with that last phrase.

Kole had briefly considered dropping the Shard at the mention of immolation, but waited, taking in the rest. The Tegma were still standing statue-like around him, as he spoke to Shondrub who was a few feet beyond the ring.

The attitude and behavior of the Svart all seemed sincere; the story was selfconsistent, though bizarre. But still…

His thoughts seemed to ripple briefly and the hand holding the orb twitched. He shook his head and thought about the behavior of the Tegma from before the fight to now, about the Vanyr and the Svart, and decided to follow this rabbithole a little deeper.

"You say this is under Unity law. What is the Unity? And how can I use this Shard to do anything?"

"Fief-lord, I realize that you may not be fully educated in these matters, but the Unity is…everything. It is an expression of all that is, of every possible realm, both within and without the Center.

"Unity law," the awed reverence showed once more in the Svart's tone, "is more commonly referred to as the laws governing the Center of Unity, which is comprised of those realms more directly under the supervision of Unity representatives under the Anu and inhabited by those of legal status such as the Vanyr Families, various Clans and Companies and Houses, and also any number of und individuals."

Kole broke in before the lecture could continue. "You're saying that this planet is part of the Unity?"

"Of course, fief-lord." Another little bow. "This realm, and all that is within it, is part of the Unity. It is not part of the Center of Unity, though, as yet."

Something in the tone there piqued Kole's interest, but he lost the thread in the continued explanation.

"Unity law applies everywhere regardless, so for our purposes it is the same. As for forming and utilizing the access paths of your Shard—I cannot tell you directly. Shard dominion is a matter that takes place within the individual consciousness, driven by the will. It is the basis upon which much of Unity life rests and is that which is used to push forward the growth of the Center of Unity to new realms—but spoken language, particularly your own tongue which developed without knowledge of these matters, is inadequate to describe any such process."

Informative, but not very helpful, Kole thought as the careful train of diction ceased, looking down at the Shard in his hand. It was spherical, filling his large palm, and would have been like clear crystal except for the red light that danced within it. The light was much dimmer now than during the battle, but it surged and flickered from moment to moment.

Memory of the end of the fight was still painful, but he brought it back into his mind. He had been one with the moment, unifying body and mind and spirit into a single stillness of being. His battle trance. Somehow, he had ed the fire that was the Shard and the stillness of himself and…willed the fire back onto his Vanyr challenger.

"Fief-lord?"

Kole spoke absently, still gazing at the artifact in his hand. "Quiet please, Shondrub. I'm working on something."

He didn't know if the pattern of the light was random or not, but it almost seemed like there was something alive about the Shard.

He took a slow breath in and then let it out just as slow. In again, and he let his cares fall away, his curiosity and delighted hope as new worlds unfolded before him, his self-consciousness of nudity, everything.

He found the stillness of his heart and saw the Shard pulse, in a rhythm now, felt it pulse in the place where he felt nothing else. He took hold of that feeling, bound in his stillness, and let the circle of Tegma around him become part of his center.

They moved, shuffling their feet but not turning. He saw the Svart hop backwards, once and then twice more.

He let the stillness of self recede a bit, but holding it, keeping himself a part of it and of everything.

"Shondrub, I don't speak your language. How do I direct the Tegma?"

The Svart looked at him with uncertainty, darting glances at the restless Tegma.

"Fief-lord? The Tegma are able to comprehend the Standard tongue, at least basic phrases, but battle orders are not given in the spoken word. How would one speak through Shards and battle-orbs?"

How would one speak…

Kole stilled all of himself once more and closed his eyes. The Tegma were still there. He could feel them without seeing them. He turned slowly, taking it in.

He formed a thought, willed one of the Tegma in the stillness to turn and face him. Opening his eyes, he found he was looking at the chest of the Tegma, given the height disparity.

He willed them all to turn and face him—and they did.

He willed them to face back out—and they did—and looked down at the late Bersi Atlag.

The cocky bastard was drunk on this power. How long did that take?

He stood there a bit longer, gazing down at the ruins of that handsome figure,

thinking of the grace that it had moved with in life. The remaining hair glowed like spun gold in the light of a patch of sun. The remains of the fine tunic had become stained with leaking sewage and flies were starting to gather.

This is worth ing.

As these thoughts drifted across his stillness he decided that he needed something more complex than 'turn around' in his order repertoire. Also that attempting to release the Tegma might be a bad idea, given the way the Svart had mentioned them 'energetically' going about their natural proclivities.

He said battle-oaths, which makes this the obedience of sworn warriors, or soldiers, not slaves.

So he took another breath, squaring his shoulders, and proceeded to spend some little time testing various combinations and complexities of orders. He mostly ignored Shondrub's antics, though bits of humor drifted across the stillness as the impeccably dressed Svart hopped around nervously to avoid the Tegma. He found that the orders, which needed to be carefully crafted with thought and will once, were then easy to recall and repeat.

After what might have been a quarter hour he stopped, just being still for a moment.

The Tegma, twelve strong, were arrayed in a march formation, two lines of six on either side with him standing front and center. He had managed to affix what he thought of as standing orders, letting them be part of their battle-orbs instead of the union that he forged between self and Shard and Tegma with his own

stillness.

They were to follow and watch and defend each other and Shondrub and himself, but not to kill without orders.

But now Kole was sweating, hungry, and his head was pounding, despite not having moved from the spot.

Clearly, Shard work was hard work.

At this point he had also considered next steps, which the press of the moment had kept him from doing before. He was alone out here on retreat anyway, with nowhere to go immediately but back to his campsite.

And yes…he already felt his old life slipping away as a new one unfolded before him.

New realms to explore. Wonders to find.His thoughts rippled again, along with another brief twinge in his right hand.

"Shondrub, what sort of burial arrangements do the Vanyr prefer?"

"Funeral pyres, fief-lord, whenever possible, or a stone cairn if not." The Svart seemed to have settled down at the now steady discipline of the Tegma.

"Onward to the new keep, then," Kole said, willing the rearmost Tegma to collect the detritus of battle. "From what you said before, there is much to do."

"Of course, fief-lord. Down this way." The Svart gestured at the valley floor and they started slowly down.

Picking his naked way with excessive care through the rough brush, Kole asked, "So, Shondrub, I know why my hair is gone—it was burned away in the fight. But why is my skin not burnt and instead so…new looking?"

The Svart was silent for a few steps, looking down at the ground, then back up at Kole.

"Shard-holders have been known to invoke spontaneous regeneration of wounds, fief-lord, though it is rare. My former fief-lord had never managed anything quite up to that level, but then he was young and relatively unskilled except in those few areas that interested him. And of course the red Shards are the lowest tier of Shard."

Kole's ears pricked up at that, but he decided not to interrupt as the Svart continued.

"That was why he was out here you know." The thin mouth quirked into a smile as the two right eyes rolled over to look at him. "His mother is a powerful figure in Family Atlag, in fact is the current materfamilias, the head of family. But his birth was unsanctioned and he never did apply himself to improving Family

positions within the Center. Thus he was given minimal retainers and resources, including a precious Family Shard, and sent here to carve out the enclave of this new fief, which might one day be worth something."

The head shook slightly, no it wobbled back and forth, as the mouth made a gurgling noise that he took to be laughter. "And when he gets here he picks a fight with the first indig his Tegma find and—

"—well, you already know the rest, fief-lord." The Svart finished speaking hurriedly, darting his eyes around and smoothing down his robe.

"Forgive me, fief-lord, if I seem out of sorts. Svart, on the whole, do not deal well with sudden change. The upset of your victory might prove to be a great challenge to Center norms." The last phrase came out almost as a gulp.

Kole decided to put his sense of historical irony away for the time being, given that he was very much living out the role of naked savage, at least from the perspective of the Svart. Still—

—his train of thought broke off as they entered a clearing in the small valley of the holler. A new clearing, given the tree stumps and the stack of logs at one end. A tunnel mouth gaped in the side of the ridge off to the left.

He could see that the holler widened up ahead, but at this point the other slope started just to the right to make the open space a hundred feet or so wide and three times that long.

Stumping toward his group with a scowl on its face was a figure about five feet tall and more than twice as wide as Kole himself.

The long black beard and hair were both braided, with silver bangles that winked and spun as the figure moved. The skin was the dark brown of aged walnut. It wore large black leather boots with the tops folded down and flaring pantaloons with a tucked in shirt, both in the same black trimmed red as the clothes of the Svart and the dead Vanyr. Various pieces of equipage hung from the broad matching belt. The pickax held in the right hand swung forward and back as the figure moved up. The face was somewhat broad and the nose was prominent, but the features were within human norms.

Kole made out startling blue eyes the same color as the summer sky as they drew closer.

His procession came to a halt as the figure planted itself in front of them, though back a bit from the Tegma as it eyed each of them in turn before staring at Shondrub with the same fixed scowl.

The Svart spoke up quickly, showing some chagrin in his manner. "Fief-lord, this is Coldower of Clan Padde, the, ah, male Nidavell who serves, by contract, as your engineer and general construction expert. He has asked me to inquire of you as to why all of our Shard-powered equipment has ceased to function. Will you kindly re-establish the links so that he can get back to work?"

The Svart kept its top eyes on Kole while the bottom eyes peered at the Nidavell through the lenses of the spectacles, nodding as though to stress each point in turn.

The Nidavell spoke, decidedly not in the Scottish burr that Kole was halfexpecting, though in the same basso tones he had heard echoing up the ridge before the fight. In rough but clear English, matching Shondrub.

"Right, and I can't finish the initial tunnel without the plasticizer-stabilizer, nor excavate further the chambers of the keep, and all I could get out of the sorry Gronma in the meantime was to down these trees and start digging the trenches that they're working on now over yonder."

After a speculative glance down at the Shard not fully hidden in Kole's hand the stocky figure added "fief-lord" in a grudging tone.

Kole looked around more slowly, noting movement through the trees in the direction that the Nidavell had nodded when speaking of Gronma. There was a white pavilion tent trimmed in red and black pitched not far from the tunnel mouth. The Tegma stood around him unmoving while the Svart and the Nidavell gazed as him expectantly.

He went deeper into his stillness, slower now and with an edge of pain and exhaustion. His stomach growled audibly, but he let all of the world around him become part of the stillness. It came slower than before, but there were many more markers, like the Tegma and their battle-orbs but different, along with seven more Tegma somewhere within the tunnel.

Reaching out to one of the new markers he used the idea of opening a channel between it and the Shard. That came easily, as though he had done it before, but he withdrew from it slightly and then let it back in to see if the connection would stay. It seemed to; he could feel the link like a flow from the Shard but not from himself.

Quickly now, he forged links with the rest of the markers then came back to himself, having to fight a bit to stay upright as he felt his body shiver.

As he stood there the Nidavell looked down at a device on that broad belt that had begun to emit a blinking light. The stout figure let out a grunt, looked back at Kole, then reached into a pouch and pulled out what looked like a short oblong loaf of bread before stepping forward and thrusting it toward him.

Kole paused, altering the orders of the Tegma with a further effort, then stepped forward as well to take it. "Thank you, Coldower."

"My duty, fief-lord," the Nidavell spoke over his shoulder while striding away.

Kole began to eat the bread, standing there. The outside was crusty but the center was chewy and thick with nuts and honey. The grain tasted somewhere between wheat and rye. He ate it all, one bite at a time, thirsty as well but not so much that he choked on what seemed like the best thing he had ever tasted.

Shondrub stood and watched throughout.

"Gronma, Shondrub?" Kole asked after somewhat regretfully finishing the last of the bread.

"A protected category under Unity law, fief-lord. You have three score of them, sixty, all the same species. Tat-Dastra, I believe these ones call themselves. Your

labor and general work force."

With a glance around at the Tegma he added, "They are not permitted to engage in combat, of course."

Alarm bells rang in Kole's head. For a moment he was overcome with a vision of state police or national guard pouring in to break up his plantation of enslaved aliens where he lived as a feudal lord.

"Would that be a paid labor force?" he asked slowly, his eyes on the Svart.

The frown still seemed odd on those thin lips, which pulled open a bit to show a few teeth. "Not as such, fief-lord, but for that matter neither are Coldower or myself, at least in the manner that you seem to mean. And certainly the Tegma are not."

Kole shifted his stance a bit, pursing his own lips. "You said that Coldower was here on contract, and yourself as well."

"Correct, fief-lord, but the contracts are not reimbursed in monetary currency. Instead, they are reciprocated with a pledge of Shard access to Clan Padde and my own Company. This is a much more stable form of compensation than some artificial currency and is fully regulated by Unity law and overseen by the Center bureaucracy under the Anu."

After a brief pause, where the Svart seemed to consider, he continued.

"In some ways the trading of Shard access may be likened to a currency, I suppose, but it is always immediately redeemable and constantly being utilized. Our contracts have been fully guaranteed by Family Atlag for a further ten local years, so you need not worry about distributed Shard access immediately. Even though you are not of Atlag.

"As for your Gronma, what would you propose? I have learned somewhat of your local indigenous culture and think that you are concerned about slavery— but the Gronma are not slaves. They are a protected category under Unity law, applying to newly discovered self-conscious species who are not considered capable of operating autonomously within the norms of the Center of Unity realms. Your species, for instance, has not been deemed Gronma as you display sufficient individual capabilities to understand the norms of the Unity and to operate within them.

"You are required to treat the Gronma well, which I will act to ensure, as the penalties for non-compliance would be rather severe on the both of us. Furthermore, under Unity law you are not permitted to 'free' your Gronma as this would constitute abandonment. You would be required to apply to a Unity functionary to alter their status, a move which these Gronma may well resist. Life within the Unity is often harsh for the und. There have been instances of former Gronma attempting to regain that status once upgraded, without success. Unity law on the matter is clear."

Kole took a deep breath after this steady diatribe from the Svart and spoke, "And yet local norms are also pretty clear on these matters, Shondrub. We are not in the Center of Unity here."

The Svart gazed at him narrowly for a moment. "May I suggest, fief-lord, that you consider these matters further once you have rested? Perhaps spoken to the

Gronma in question? You have had a trying day, after all, and have you considered that you are standing out here naked and with all of your hair burned off while you argue with me the legal status of your labor force?"

Thinking in perspective for a moment Kole realized that holding himself in the stillness for so long may have been impacting his self awareness—or maybe it had something to do with the Shard. His thoughts rippled slightly.

Regardless, he was willing to take the suggestion. It was just before noon, with the sun beating down on him from overhead in this clearing, but he felt like he could sleep for a week.

Reaching out, he modified the Tegma orders.

They dispersed, half going out for sentry duty and the others off-watch. Those in the back left their burdens on the ground, the bodies of Bersi and their fellow along with the weapons.

"Show me where I can rest and get more to eat and something to drink. And where I can get some clothes. Take care of the funeral arrangements, if you will. I will not attend. But first I will need to see the other Tegma in the tunnel."

The Svart gave his shallow bow. "Of course, fief-lord. This way." With a gesture the figure led him into the tunnel mouth.

Which struck Kole as an amazing piece of work, given the brief time in which it

had been built.

A smooth strip of unbroken stone stretched along the peak of the arched shape of the excavation, ed at intervals by arches of the same curving down to blend seamlessly into a smooth floor of the same material. It was white in color and looked nothing like the native shale still apparent between the arches. He thought of Coldower's reference to a 'plasticizer-stabilizer'. Lights were dotted along the peak. The tunnel sloped down a bit, maybe ten degrees off level, and ended within sight of the entrance maybe fifty feet from the mouth.

This was not primitive work, even half done and using muscle power for at least some of it.

Some twenty feet in they stopped as the Svart bowed left toward an open arch, a doorway, set into the side of the tunnel. Across to the right was a similar opening but the room carved out past it was barely started.

Kole stepped through the left opening into a narrow room parallel with the tunnel, extending back toward the tunnel mouth a few feet and also another fifteen feet or so further inward. At the far back stood seven Tegma doing their statue impression in front of an oval wooden door with broad greyish metal straps banded across it.

Shondrub spoke, "The guardroom, fief-lord. Your predecessor set a third of his Tegma to watch over his temporary quarters while he went to investigate your own tres with the others. These quarters were finished immediately after translation, of course, though may be re-purposed when the rest of the keep is finished. Shall we proceed?"

Kole put a hand on the wall beside him, going once more into the stillness, his Stillness, deep enough to link to these Tegma and their battle-orbs. He felt the headache intensify as he did so, also setting their orders, and his vision blurred for a moment. It was definitely time to rest.

Two of the Tegma remained near the door. He had set this as a guard post for a pair of them, with three more at the mouth of the tunnel and another four or five at any one time to be keeping a perimeter watch over the clearing and surrounds. They were not to do what had happened to him on the ridge but instead to attempt to capture intruders without injury. He knew there might be problems with what he had set up but it was the best he could come up with at the moment.

This Shard-linked control over the troops had amazing potential but it also made for an intellectual bottleneck at the top. There were no sergeants around to see that all the proper things were done—

He felt like face palming for a moment but simply reached out for another modification. It seemed to take more effort the further away the Tegma were, but he could still feel all of them clearly. His hands were shaking when he finished.

"I have given orders to the Tegma that commands from you or Coldower are to be obeyed unless they might take the Tegma more than a mile from my location. Will that be sufficient for you to keep things organized while I sleep?"

"That will be helpful, fief-lord, and is a customary arrangement. It was somewhat frustrating for me not to be able to the Tegma to assess your condition after the battle. Now, if you will open the portal?" The request accompanied a gesture at the barred wooden door that they stood in front of, flanked by the guarding Tegma.

Kole started to move forward, then stopped. There was no handle or apparent mechanism.

He sighed a bit then opened further the Stillness once more. A wave of dizziness ed over him as he did so. One of the links he had made earlier was near the door, and another just a bit past, tiny and almost unnoticeable in the Stillness.

He sent a push of his will and the simple thought of 'open', and the door did. There was another identical door ten feet ahead through a short tunnel, so he willed it open as well.

"The doors are made to be opened from the interior, of course, in an emergency and without the Shard links, fief-lord, but that method collapses them outward and makes closing them again somewhat awkward. A transfer of fief is an unusual event and generally the Shard links will stay in place during the alteration of dominion regardless."

The Svart bowed him into the short age and then followed, reaching up to press a small stud on the wall that Kole had not ed as more than an irregularity in the stone. The door behind them swung slowly shut and then open again as the Svart repeated the motion.

"But I see that the basic links are back in place. Perhaps after you have rested you will identify those permitted to from the exterior. I should be able to close this behind me already. For now, however—"

The Svart stepped through the second doorway and hopped to the side as Kole entered behind.

And into another world.

The room was perhaps fifteen by twenty and he could see three other archways, openings in the walls that were curtained off. The walls themselves were sort of plastered over and painted in bright colors and geometric patterns. There was a fresco on the ceiling that showed a woodland scene. In the corner just left was a vertically arranged miniature fountain, which seemed to be making the music that resonated through the chamber with a sense of gentle longing as the water cascaded through it. The floor was mostly covered in rugs and clusters of pillows but there were several low tables and couches.

Standing in the center of the chamber were three women, smiling directly at Kole.

They wore what looked like ballroom gowns, in red and green and blue, each cut very differently and exquisitely tailored to the woman wearing it. The center figure appeared to be Vanyr, though with hair more of a sandy blonde and skin tone several shades darker than the late Bersi, while the two flanking her were within human norms.

The center figure stood perhaps five feet tall and wore a flowing gown in emerald green, which matched her eyes that were like gleaming jewels. The woman on the left wore curly dark brunette hair piled up to show the mocha colored skin of her neck, wearing a bright red dress that was barely there in front and almost framed by a full back. The woman to the right wore a deep blue gown that looked like velvet, which set off her fire red hair and pale freckled skin.

As Kole stood there taking in all of this and more, stunned by those thousand watt smiles, Shondrub gave another little bow and spoke some of his Standard to the women and then English to Kole.

"Fief-lord, these are your concubines, Mari, Eldora Isnar, and Tatiana," gesturing toward them from the redhead to the brunette with the names.

"They have not been prepared in the local tongues and so only speak Standard, but I have ed on your needs and they will see to them. Good day, fief-lord, and may you have a pleasant rest." With this last the Svart gave another shallow bow and then turned and touched the wall, hurrying out as the door closed behind him.

As he stood there in front of the women, their eyebrows raised expectantly at him and still hitting him with those stunning smiles, Kole took a deep breath.

I think some of us are making a better first impression than others, came the wry thought.

He started laughing then, bent slightly as he considered his own appearance, hairless and naked and spotted with dirt and a few leaves, in contrast to their flawless dress and perfect deportment. They were obviously intent on both catching his eyes and asserting their own capabilities.

He felt, socially anyway, intimidated and also somewhat inadequate.

Straightening, he smiled back at those three beautiful women and then stepped over to the nearest table and set down the Shard, gripped firmly in his right hand since waking.

With that, his head seemed to split in two and he pitched forward to meet the darkness that rose up around him.

Four

Kole dreamt that the world burned.

A vast oblong bulk was parked in the sky over Chicago. Fires dotted the landscape of the megacity, forming pillars of smoke through and around which swarms of craft zoomed in all directions. Occasional gunfire or rockets sparked cascades of energetic light across portions of the great bulk or the smaller craft, but seemed to do no damage.

Flashing beams of light answered the attacks; each time a new pillar of smoke began to rise from the cityscape.

***

His viewpoint shifted to another place. Formations of grey skinned Tegma marched down the broad new boulevards of Shanghai, each encapsulating other forms. Svart and Nidavell and other strange shapes.

Always with a Vanyr at the very heart.

Most Tegma were the large bipeds he already knew, but others moved centaurlike on four legs and some slithered along on snakelike lower bodies.

There was no sun to light the sky, but clouds overhead that sheathed another vast dark bulk of a ship strobed and flashed in counterpoint to the struggle below. Defenders poured out an unrelenting hail of fire at the invaders. Some Tegma and others fell to lucky concentrations or artillery rounds, but most shots just served to light up the shields surrounding massed battle-orbs.

Beams of coherent light stabbed down from the sky to smash into groups of defenders. Smaller strikes issued forth from large mobile platforms pulled along by the ground forces. Where opposition had been smashed and scattered swarms of Tegma chased down and swung and stabbed at their individual opponents.

Many Tegma fell, but the unshielded humans that were not killed outright were forced into capitulation or chased into hiding.

***

Another place. He recognized the pastel colored buildings above the harbor at Cagliari on the south coast of Sardinia. Another vast ship that he knew, somehow, to be the Vanroc of a Vanyr Family slowly drifted down to settle into the bay. There seemed to be less destruction here but a few fires dotted the area.

The Vanroc sparked aside some sort of naval vessel, lying sideways in the water and burning, as it settled in. Hundreds of craft swarmed around and more darted in and out of the Vanroc even as it dropped.

Formations of Tegma were moving through the streets as the setting sun

highlighted the colorful tiered array of city structures.

***

Buenos Aires. San Francisco. Singapore. Mumbai. Dar es Salaam. Libreville. Moscow. Edinburgh. Maracaibo.

Across the known world a dozen Family Vanrocs settled in as bases from which to claim and pillage new territory.

He viewed them all, one after the other, with knowledge flowing into his dreaming mind.

From each of those bases hundreds of sorties issued forth, striking out at choice targets. Military installations. Universities. Storage depots and stockpiles.

They smashed opposition and gathered loot. Staked claims and built fortified points. Sometimes they captured people and carried them off; sometimes they killed everyone they saw or could find. Other times they seemed to ignore most people, intent on digging in or forting up.

They moved according to logics alien to Kole's mind but always with clear intent and purpose.

His vision flashed through the countless scenes, but nowhere did he see electric

lights. No human vehicles moved under their own power. On face after human face he saw confusion and fear and disbelief, those that were still alive.

The dream visions came faster and faster until they blurred into a mass of color and then faded to black.

Five

He screamed out his breath.

Kole lurched upright, breaking through the surface of sleep like a man underwater too long. A gasp swelled a chest that did not feel like his own, that cramped in pain with the effort.

He convulsed, curling up into a ball as his entire body seemed to throb in a wave of red fire. His world seemed to twist and spin, but then it settled and the pain ed swiftly, leaving an absence where it had been.

He opened his eyes and rocked forward into a crouch to take in his surroundings. There were stars above. Water babbled nearby. A soft music seemed to flow from place to place around him. He smelled fresh loam and night-flowers.

Lights came up, the stars above swelling into soft globes to illuminate the chamber. He was in a square room perhaps twenty feet on a side. A woman stood by a curtained door across from him, one hand on the wall and the other stretched out to him palm up. Her face bore an expression of concern.

He blinked a bit.

It was Tatiana, wearing a gold colored robe that set off the smooth tone of her

skin. He was lord of this keep by right of challenge, a fief-lord of the Center of Unity that he had dreamed was conquering the Earth. He was in his personal chambers, though a different room than he had seen before…before collapsing in front of the concubines he had inherited and just met.

He glanced down at himself and the silken drawers he was wearing, then slid his body to the side and off of a large bed that took up a quarter of the chamber. The sheets were a pale silver-white that reminded him of moonlight. Whatever the mattress was accepted his form firmly but without any hardness—like he was gliding across compressed air.

The walls depicted a forest scene that continued across the ceiling, so that the globes of light some twelve feet above seemed to peek through and between tree branches. A miniature waterfall cascaded down the corner across from Tatiana.

Kole coughed a bit with a throat that felt clear but tight, then spoke. “Tatiana, how long—we still don't speak the same language, do we?”

A wry smile curved across his face as he changed his thought mid-sentence.

An answering smile broke out on her face as she watched him carefully, then spoke in slow and heavily accented English.

“I speak…little. Shondrub teach. You speak Shondrub?”

His smile slipped a bit as he wondered again how long he had slept, but he

answered her as gently as he could.

“Yes, please. Will you send for him? For Shondrub?”

She kept her smile in place and nodded and then ed through the curtain. He glanced at the other two curtained doorways in the room and then crossed to the one closest to the bed. Through it he found the facilities he had been searching for and utilized them. The design was strange but the basic functions were clear enough.

Aside from that which he first required there was a large stone bath and shower. He decided not to puzzle over the plumbing routings, but just stepped in and took a quick shower.

He ed back into the bedchamber in a towel to find Eldora, wearing a silver robe, smiling at him. Mari, in a green robe, was just backing out of the doorway he had not tried. She bore a small stack of clothing in her arms.

Kole felt himself redden slightly as he halted and stood there awkwardly for a moment. The robes they wore were brief and the women were not attempting to be overly modest.

The very attractive women, each in her own way, and each artfully made up despite the casual attire and suddenness of his awakening. Women that he did not know, could barely communicate with, and with whom he had a somewhat unclear but very suggestive relationship.

He bowed his head and pushed aside some darker though very appealing thoughts.

Stepping forward, he plucked the clothing from the arms of Mari. She had gone perfectly still at his sudden approach.

Smiling at them both, he spoke. “Thank you. I'll just get dressed and be out in a moment,” and then ducked back into the shower room.

He took his time donning the unfamiliar clothing, somewhat strange but not difficult to figure out. It was a set of tros and a kimono-like belted robe. The colors were red trimmed with black, as Bersi Atlagson and some retainers had worn, but the fit was adequate. The tros were too short. He made a note to himself to see about changing the fief colors. The fabric itself was silken and very smooth, though thin. Lounging clothes then.

Stepping out, he moved past Mari, who held the curtain out of the bedchamber open with an inviting gesture.

The room beyond was the same that he had first entered after ing through the guard-doors into the ’temporary quarters'. Tatiana stood by the open guarddoor through which he could see Shondrub tapping his foot, while Eldora gestured Kole toward a low couch that she knelt beside.

With the corner of his mouth twitching wryly, Kole moved over to sit on the couch and then called out, “Come in, Shondrub.”

A harried looking Shondrub came through the door, which Tatiana closed behind him.

“Fief-lord, I am pleased to see you awake. What is your wish?”

Kole looked at the Svart for a moment, then around at the two human women and the Vanyr. He leaned forward on the couch and rubbed the stubble on his scalp with both hands.

“How long have I been asleep?” The words came out low, almost a growl, as the distractions of his unfamiliar surroundings faded somewhat. He ed anew the horror and despair of the dream, the sheer chaos that had torn the order of his world asunder.

The Svart drew himself up and answered formally, “It has been just over three days since the transition to this realm, fief-lord. Work on the keep has been uninterrupted and initial construction is complete. The keep is livable and secure. There are a number of tasks yet to accomplish and of course much that requires your approval, if you would not mind—”

He paused in the act of drawing forth some papers from the satchel worn at his side as Kole held up a hand in interruption.

Disquieted, he spoke, drawing the words out slow and even. “Three days. And we are secure here for now. Has there been any with others, with anyone not of the keep?”

“Quite secure, fief-lord. The defenses are in place and fully powered by your Shard, as established before your rest. There has been no with outsiders, save for animals. This location seems to be very remote.”

Kole looked across the room at the red light glowing within the smooth sphere of the Shard, sitting precisely where he had left it on a small table near the door. It pulsed as he sought it out; he felt an answering pulse within himself and a flicker like a pale echo of the pain he had felt upon waking.

He had not noticed the Shard visually upon entering the chamber, but only because it had seemed to already be with him inside…

Feeling his face firm as he looked back at the Svart with hard eyes, he asked, “No at all? So you have no method of communication with the rest of the invasion forces? No means of gathering information?”

The Svart's top pair of eyes, black and grey, flicked back and forth for a moment and then closed briefly as he took a breath before speaking.

“Fief-lord, I realize that your perspective is somewhat…different than that of other…than that of the Vanyr, but this is not an invasion.

"Technically speaking, the Anu has chosen to extend the enforcement of Unity law to this realm and so bring it into the Center. More practically, various Families have pledged their resources to bring this about and so are the main drivers of the occurrence. As such they are permitted to recoup their losses by acquiring spoils from the indigenous population and by making claims of territory of stipulated size…”

The words trailed off and the Svart double blinked before continuing. “And the keep does hold a device with limited communication and information functions, a Field-Mirror, but it is warded from use until modified directly by the Shardholder.”

Bringing his hands together to wring them a bit, the Svart leaned forward and looked at Kole intently with all four eyes. The lower two appeared enlarged through the spectacles.

“Fief-lord, please bear in mind that only a relative handful of individuals set in motion the events that are occurring in this realm. The rest of us are merely attempting to fulfill our duties as well as possible. There will be much chaos for a time but that will settle down into the true order of the Unity soon enough.”

Kole felt his anger wane at the open appeal in the Svart's manner and nodded, softening just a bit. “Thank you. I do not blame you or anyone else here for what has happened.”

He attempted to smile around at the others present, each of whom seemed to be watching him intently throughout despite the language barrier. Eldora was close beside his couch in her brief robe, eyes on him past a screen of her hair.

“Do you know how many Families are participating in…this?”

“Twelve. It is always thus when a new realm is brought into compliance, fieflord. Twelve Families that each construct and transition an orbital station that is

then turned over to the Center bureaucracy. There is some competition for the right to do so, as each of the twelve are permitted to claim significant territory and what spoils they may gather.”

Kole thought more on what his dreaming eyes had seen, then sought to confirm how it had seemed.

“So twelve Families. Each with a very large floating ship. And they will spread themselves throughout the world for these claims. Dividing the world between them?”

At this Shondrub seemed uncertain. His head turned slightly and the top eyes darted between the Shard and Kole several times before answering.

“Ah, yes and no, fief-lord. Each of the major Families is said to marshal a Vanroc, which is a very large vessel. Family Atlag certainly does, to my knowledge, and I suspect the other Families making claims in this realm do also. They would likely utilize such here in the early days of the transition in order to maximize transportable gains in the initial chaos. And to suppress indigenous resistance.

“As for the extent of their claims of territory, by no means will they be permitted to divide the new realm between them. The grants will be comparably large, much larger than the lands this keep alone will be able to control, but altogether less than one-hundredth part of this world of the realm.” He took another breath, then continued. “In the past, the practice of these major Families has been to attempt to establish spheres of influence within the new realm, but these are informal arrangements and a matter of Family politics. Certainly not grounded in Unity law.”

The last came out with as much indignation as Kole had seen the Svart express, though still what he would consider to be a mild amount.

Kole stood, then paced back and forth, thinking. The others present followed him with their eyes.

“Shondrub, if that is the case then why would smaller groups spread out from the nodal points of the Vanrocs? Thousands of groups, some just looting but many making fortified places like this keep?”

He stopped, turning his head. “For that matter why or how did you all transition here directly?”

After standing unmoving for a few long moments, the Svart nodded twice as if in decision.

“The cost of transport between one realm and another is never small, fief-lord. To transition a Vanroc and all the mass it may contain requires significant effort. For a Family to bring forth an orbital station where there is no Shard-field established requires orders of magnitude more. All of which must be ed for in Shard-use first, but also in expended material and other resources. For a Family to so deplete their reserves could be dangerous and even threaten standing contracts, so the cost is defrayed by permitting others to buy in to the venture.

“d groups such as my Company or Clan Padde are asked to lessen

ongoing Shard-draw in exchange for extensions in standing contracts and other concessions. Such d groups also make gains from the contracts required by establishments in the new realm. And enclaves of their own may be founded under the protective aegis of a Vanyr Family.

“But there is also a need…”

The Svart seemed to study the mural on the ceiling for a moment before returning to the explanation.

“Fief-lord, und groups and bands of every sort also pledged what limited Shard-draw they have and bartered material trades and even went into debt in order to gain a place in the transition of the Atlag Family Vanroc. I imagine it was the same for the other Vanrocs. My understanding was that some of these groups intended to grab loot to bring back to the Vanyr in hopes of making an overall profit. But many, perhaps most, intended to strike out on their own to establish freeholds in the new realm, to make new Houses of their own. This is permitted to a limited extent under Unity law for a short time after the transition, but is dangerous and uncertain as they must contend on their own with indigenous resistance and otherwise subsist as best they may.”

Kole noted that Shondrub had stopped before answering his last question, but held off a moment before repeating himself.

He nodded and moved slowly back to the couch. Eldora smoothed the cover material with her hands before rocking back to her kneeling position, offering him another smile. He smiled back a bit bemusedly, but his mind tracked the unwavering grace of her movements and the artful slips of her robe as she moved. Her eyes remained warm and inviting. The tips of her ears poked through the smooth shining cascade of her hair as she tilted her head slightly.

Sitting, he looked back at the Svart and kept his eyes there but took in the two other women peripherally. Both were still watching him, but Tatiana was slowly smoothing her robe over her thighs and moving her legs a bit as if she didn't want to stand anymore. Mari seemed to be toying with her long hair.

The cold mind within him noted the mannerisms, but he grimaced a bit at himself and leaned forward to rub his scalp again before looking back at Shondrub.

“What of those of this keep? I think I you saying something about a Bridge from another place. From another Realm?”

A deep breath swelled the chest of the Svart out almost frog-like for a moment, before he expelled it in a rush. His hands fiddled with the satchel at his side and then smoothed the pleated full robe that the small figure wore.

“Fief-lord, those of this keep are not legally part of the full realm transition. We were Bridged directly from Realm Solve as an independent expedition under Bersi Atlag, at great expense. One full local day prior to the transition of the orbital stations from Realm Solve and the two other Bridging Realms.

"If Bersi Atlag then pledged fealty to Family Atlag, this would effectively expand the influence of Family Atlag in the new realm with the immediate incorporation of a pre-existing independent Center of Unity outpost in a heretofore wild realm. I understand that Family Atlag attempted a few of these expeditions. I suppose the other Families would have as well. Each one a risky but potentially profitable gamble.”

Kole's hands slid down to his knees during this speech, hands that grasped tight as he stared intently at the Svart.

Still leaned forward, body unmoving, he spoke. “My combat with Bersi occurred before the realm transition?”

“Yes, fief lord. This is a subsidiary region to the Family Atlag claim and it would —“.

The answer cut off as Kole's right hand slashed up like a blade.

“I pledge no fealty to Family Atlag. I was an independent Shard-holder, fief-lord of a Center of Unity outpost established in a wild realm prior to the realm transition. What does that mean for me, for my status in the Center?”

“Legally, it means that you have established a new Family within the Center of Unity.” The Svart ran its green tongue across the ground down teeth of its lower jaw. “That you are an individual of the highest status in the Center, below only the Anu himself and comparable to Bersi's mother as head of Family Atlag.

"But you have little power to back this status, fief-lord. You would do well to pledge fealty to a stronger Family and relinquish your own Family rights, as Bersi Atlag would have done had he lived.”

“Maybe.” Kole's face was still as the mind within ran through paths and

potentials.

“And what is the extent of my claim in land area? What territory do I hold?”

“Potentially, something like one hundred and thirty of your miles in all directions from this keep. About half the radius of what the twelve Families may claim for their part in the transition. But some of your claim will lapse after roughly ten local years if you do not establish and maintain effective enforcement of Unity law within the boundaries. Which seems very unlikely given the resources available to us.”

The Svart held out his hands in a beseeching gesture. “Fief-lord, I must ask that you consider my advice in these matters. You have much to learn and the realities of Center politics are quite brutal, the consequences rather final.”

“I appreciate your advice, Shondrub. I do have much to learn. You mentioned a device for communication and information, a Mirror. Can I use that to learn about these things without asking you everything? To learn the language of the Center?”

Kole's voice had grown more cold and precise as he focused on the problems, the possibilities. Lost in his racing thoughts, he didn't notice.

A radius of a hundred and thirty miles included over half of Kentucky and broad swaths of the surrounding states. Most of southern Appalachia with more besides. Knoxville, Lexington, Louisville, and maybe Cincinnati as well. Lots of rough land and forest, but also fertile farmland and access to major rivers. With millions of people living within. Living now in fear and want with no electricity

and dwindling food supplies.

The Svart's demeanor seemed to turn hesitant, wary, but he answered. “The Shard itself gives you access to these things, fief-lord.

"Others require intermediary devices like the Field-Mirror for communication or to instill knowledge, but a Shard-holder has immediate opening to the great Field of the Center of Unity. I surmise that this is how you have learned of the state of things in this realm, of the Vanrocs…but I cannot tell you how to do these things. You are the Shard-holder. Shard-lore itself is highly secretive and tightly guarded knowledge, though some few things are well known to those such as myself.”

Kole nodded again, mostly to himself, then shook out of the semi-trance.

“I have much to think on, Shondrub. Thank you for your counsel. Is there anything about the keep or surrounds that requires my immediate attention?”

“No, fief-lord. Though I would like to both report and discuss many things with you, as well as plan for the future.”

Holding up a hand with the flat toward the Svart, the fief-lord smiled and gently spoke. “Soon enough we will get to those things.”

He looked around at all four other beings present, then thought of those without, the Tegma guarding his door and the others beyond. Beyond that uncounted

numbers around the world…throughout the Realm Terra…fighting and pillaging and building and struggling and hiding and dying. And unknown Realms beyond.

“Before you go, Shondrub, please convey my thanks to Eldora, Tatiana, and Mari for caring for me while I slept.” He smiled briefly at each of the women as he spoke their names.

The Svart nodded and then conveyed this while Kole listened. The words almost seemed to make sense…

At a gesture from Kole, the Svart bowed and then withdrew, with Tatiana swiftly moving to close the portal behind him.

All three women then turned to watch him expectantly, making subtle motions of their own as they did so.

Tatiana advanced one leg forward of the other and in line, to draw the brief robe up even further. She crossed her arms under her breasts and swayed a bit, side to side.

Mari was moving her hair with her hands in a coquettish manner, head tilted to the side and slightly forward as her eyes shone invitingly. She let out a soft giggle.

Eldora leaned over and forward from where she knelt beside him. She moved

like there was no effort at all, like smoke floating on the air. The top of her robe almost entirely open, she placed a hand on his chest and moved it in a circular motion. Her lips parted invitingly as she took a slow, deep breath to swell her chest.

Keeping the same faint smile on his face throughout, Kole gently took her hand and removed it from his chest. He rose, letting go, and walked over to the Shard.

He seized it, feeling a pulse of light and pain within him before letting his Stillness surround it, surround and take the world itself.

His thoughts rippled, his hand twinged, and he started to step over to the door to go after Shondrub and see to the hold—but then shook himself, once and then again, and turned back, stilling his thoughts.

At peace for the moment, he walked into the bedchamber and sank down to sit beside the water fixture, his back to the wall. One or more of the women may have followed him but he didn't look to check. Closing his eyes, he looked within the Shard within himself. The water burbled next to him as gentle noise threading through the soft music that the fountain emitted.

Much to learn…

It all began to open up before him, through a path like a door within the Shard itself. Like the branchings of a great tree, he glimpsed different ways to follow.

One seemed to speak in different tongues, like many languages swirling through the silence of the not-space of that branching pathway.

Others spoke to his thoughts of histories untold, or the technology of the Center, or news listings and contract postings for the many Realms, each path multiplying into a thousand new branchings as his thoughts focused briefly upon it.

The great tree turned in the not-space and his mind glimpsed hints of more information than he could ever hold.

***

In the dimly lit room artfully presented as a forest grove, Kole's mouth smiled as his thoughts plunged down the path of language and immersed his mind in the Standard tongue.

Three women looked on with uncertainty, then glanced at one another and settled down to wait.

Part 2

Six

West St. Louis. Early afternoon.

Carmen Rivia continued to clean off the gun while listening to the distant sounds of shots…and screams. There were more people falling under the knife, but for now her own place was safe.

The gun had been almost covered in blood when she pulled it off the body of a young man she she knew by sight but not name. One of the other fighters, the others continuing to struggle against the aliens.

Like me.

His blood was still tacky on the weapon and she didn't want it to jam up. It fired, she found that out quick, and she had over a hundred bullets still for the military style rifle.

Not that the guns always worked. Sometimes they did, but other times there was just a flash of light where you were shooting and then nada.

More than half of the people around her were working on or just carrying hand weapons instead. Those worked more, though not always, but you had to get in close.

One big man across from her had a long club he had taken from one of the soldier aliens, was just staring at it with empty eyes, spinning it in his hands.

She knew the look, had seen it enough in the time since the city died. She saw it in a mirror once, after her whole family died when the aircraft came to St. Louis with their soldiers and their fire.

Her skin burned again in memory as her thoughts drifted to that place and then shied away.

She'd been down the block when the house flashed and burned, watching the light show in the sky, far enough to live but close enough to get hit by flaming pieces. Maybe one of her cousins had fired a gun up in the air just before.

Anyway she didn't need mirrors anymore.

Alien beasts, she thought, why didn't they just leave us alone? And why can't we all fight back together?

A few tears trickled out as she worked the wet cloth along the gun and into the cracks, but she ignored them. No one else paid any attention either. This was a good group for her. No one care about anything but fighting them, about taking as many of them down as possible.

She'd been in other groups and been on her own, off and on in the long days

since it happened. Been raped a few times too, in groups and out. Before she stopped running and started fighting.

Before she found something to live for even in the ruins of her life.

Someone was ing out cans, came by and gave her one. Beans again. She put down the gun and cloth and ate through it in a couple minutes.

Food was getting really hard to find, even with all the people that had died or been taken. The group had talked about people meat a little, or alien meat, but no one tried to cook any yet.

She wondered how the gray soldiers would cook up, as she finished her beans and looked around.

“We got a fight.”

She looked up at the man at the back door of the garage they were camped in, coming in with the outside guard right behind him. An old black guy but the group was all kinds, they didn't care about that. Charles knew what to do.

The big Mexicano across from her stood up and ed the rest as they gathered around to listen.

Charles had gauze wrapped around his head and was missing an ear and some

fingers, but he looked around at them all with intensity in his brown eyes. They stood and waited for him to talk, her and maybe fourteen others.

Like me, she thought, ing her sixteenth birthday party over a month before…a few more tears trickled down her face as she listened, shutting away the memories.

“Looks like a caravan coming this way, pulling in anything good and maybe some people. Couldn't see it all. They got some grays out front, got shields, but it's a long line of their wagons and we can hit them from the side.”

He held out a hand flat and traced lines to show them what he meant. “So they're strung out over a few blocks and moving slow, sending out grays to look through buildings. That was another group holed up they just got, but they were just trying to hide.”

Carmen spoke, surprising herself, her voice sounding rusty even from the inside.

“There's always an elf, too, with a big caravan. You see one?”

“No.” The intensity of his eyes looked through her and she felt her body shiver but held his gaze.

“Anyway this is a small caravan. The damn elves always strut around like they own the place and I didn't see one. But it don't matter. If there's an elf maybe we kill an elf today.”

“It don't matter,” she agreed, then fell silent again.

She'd never seen a dead elf, never even heard of anyone killing one. Plenty of grays and some others and even humans fighting for them, but never an elf.

He nodded at her, once, then looked back around the group.

“They're not on this street and might miss us with their line, but we can set up a fallback right here and the rest go in and hit them. We drop back here when they get mad.

"Guns set up around here,” he pointed at Carmen and some others, “and find good spots so we can run past and swing around to get them again after you open up.

“Eddy, you got that bomb ready?”

The man hanging back a bit from the others was twitchy and Carmen tried not to get close to him, but a few of his ‘homemade claymores' had worked. One or two hadn't.

“I got it here, man. This is a good one.”

Eddy ran one hand through stringy hair and held up something that looked like a box of cereal wrapped in duct tape with the other. “Where do you want it?”

“Right across the street. You got enough wire to stretch across?” At the nod he continued. “Good. And you're not gonna set it off early this time are you?”

With this the older man moved a pistol up to rub at the gauze on the side of his face. “Right?”

Eddy twitched. “Look man, that wasn't my fault. I won't set it off till you're all clear.” He grabbed a pack and went out to get set up.

Charles looked around one more time and smiled. The movement stretched scars and opened up a scabbed cut to bleed some more. “Everybody else with me.”

He turned to leave and others followed.

Carmen watched them file out, then moved out herself to look around. She checked the bolt on her gun and loaded it. It still had the clip knife on the end but she left it there.

Finally she moved over mostly behind a tree next to the street and off to the side, wriggling a bit to get her spot. She rested the gun on a root and waited. There were still spots of blood on the gun but she got most of it off.

She looked around some more. It was pretty quiet.

Eddy was slowly dropping wire down on the pavement as he moved backwards to hunker behind a new minivan half up on the curb. He ran his hand back up through that stringy hair and fiddled with his button thing.

The others were huddled on the flat roof of the garage or behind other cars along the street. A little bark fell on her from a kid up above in her own tree.

It started with a yell.

Gray beasts and their noise, she thought as the sounds rose and then fell. It sounded like the next block over through some houses and their yards. She could hear wet thunks, crashing metal on metal, and a long scream that cut off sharp.

Then Charles ran through, ing the bomb with most of his bunch right behind him.

The yells started up again and she let off a shot at the first gray shape she saw. The others were shooting too but she saw red sparks and the beasts didn't fall. They did bunch up as the shooting slowed them down a little.

The others were running past to get behind the garage but she saw Charles dive behind the minivan with Eddie.

Quickly, she rolled behind the tree trunk and covered her ears, closing her eyes but keeping her mouth open. Eddie's bombs always had some scatter.

A moment later the bomb went off and she felt the air push her down and the ground try to push her up. Sharp pings bounced off of the front of the garage and she heard a short cry from the roof.

Rolling back now, she picked the gun up and emptied it into the mass of alien soldiers. Some were down and they all seemed stunned.

There were a few red sparks still but she was hitting them, killing them after the shield overload. She changed clips and emptied the next one too, but then heard more of the yells…coming down both ends of the street and some from behind the garage.

The gun jammed—she could see a bullet casing almost bent in half and stuck in the bolt.

There were more gray shapes moving toward her on the street and she could hear yells and fighting behind her from the other close fighters.

Over to the side Charles pushed Eddie toward one end of the street and the shapes there and then charged at them with his own roar of challenge. He had a pistol in one hand and a raised tire iron in the other.

She jumped up with her gun, just a stick with a knife on it now, and turned the

other way. The boy above her was yelling as he let out shotgun blasts at the beasts in front of the tree, sparking off their fresh shields.

She screamed and pushed her knife at the first one when it raised its arms high to try to hit the boy. The shotgun boomed down onto the beast just as her knife touched the spark of the shield.

Touched it and pushed through, sinking in to the beast right under its raised arm.

She twisted her arms and then pulled back with a gush of fresh blood. Kept pulling and fell over backwards as another beast swung at her, her eyes wide and staring at the club swinging over her as her back hit the ground and she rolled toward the beast with her knife held close above her head.

She felt heat and all her old burns caught on fire again, but she pushed her knife right up between the legs of the beast as it snarled down at her.

Another gush of blood came down and blinded her, but she heard the boom of the shotgun again before the beast fell down on top of her. Struggling, she tried to push free, wriggled out backwards but lost her grip on the gun.

Carmen blinked away more of the hot blood and could see again, see the boy being yanked out of the tree beside her—then everything was blurry as something smacked into the side of her head.

She fell down on her side but then struggled onto her hands and knees as she

tried to keep moving, to keep fighting. A beast reached down and picked her up by the neck and laughed as she kicked at it.

There was blood everywhere.

Another beast was slamming the boy into the tree again and again by its grip on his leg.

She felt something grip her arms and then they were tying a rope around her, binding her arms and wrapping around all the way down to her legs, still kicking. Tears were leaking down her face as she screamed at them, until they stuffed something in her mouth too.

She kept fighting.

They carried her struggling form across the street, past where the bomb had gone off and the small pile of gray bodies. Past some houses and then there was one of their wagons in front of her. A wagon with a cage in it. She screamed through her gag and tried harder to break free.

Suddenly a cool sensation spread through her back and neck and on to the rest of her body. She felt herself become still as it covered her, felt her body stop moving, until only her eyes could move.

They tossed her in the cage onto her side.

The big Mexicano was half under her, wrapped up like she was; she couldn't tell if he was dead or not. Charles was in there too. She could see his eyes watching her…there were bones sticking out of his chest and through the ropes.

She held his eyes with hers until they went blank, the first time she had seen them lose their intensity. A few more tears leaked down her face.

Her eyes tracked over as a voice spoke from beside the wagon. One of the elves was there, speaking their language to someone she couldn't see. It gestured at Charles and pursed its lips, then shrugged and turned away.

She closed her eyes and listened as the wagon began to move. The Mexicano was breathing, real slow. The body that had been Charles relaxed into death and she lay there with the smell of blood and poop and sweat, unable to move.

Listening and letting the tears fall.

Seven

He knelt in the hidden sanctum.

Kole held the Shard in his hands, looking into it. The light strobed and flickered to his eyes, but the power that was the Shard sequenced through his mind.

All the things he could do with will alone. Those who obeyed him because of this. Who could stand against him? How could he give up the worlds of knowledge accessed within? The thoughts rippled through him and his hands pulsed in time.

He sighed, once and then again, and then placed the orb into the opening he had made for it.

The chamber itself was small, a short tunnel maybe five feet wide and ten deep. The walls plain smooth stone except for this small rounded divot in the back wall. After easing the Shard in he put his hands on either side of the hole, pulsing red now, reaching in to the Shard in the Stillness of his mind and putting forth his will upon the stone of the chamber.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the stone oozed across the gap until the flickering red light was cut off and there was just smooth wall.

He stood, looking around again at the bare stone, then stepped out of storage alcove number seven off of lower tunnel center four.

The tunnel itself was a stretch about a hundred yards long with stairwells on both ends. Short alcoves just like the one he had come out of were spaced evenly along the length of the tunnel on both sides, empty yet but ready to receive supplies for storage or to be tunneled out further or for whatever other purpose was needed. The walls were all the same smooth white stone that still seemed strange to him coming from the native rock. The tunnel roof was perfectly arched, as was the opening to each alcove.

He took a moment to fix the place in his mind, not that he would ever need help finding his own Shard but just in case.

This tunnel was number four of six, moving down, extending below the bottom center of the dug out keep that followed the ridge running north and a bit west on one side of the holler above. Below the ridge, mostly, but the upper chambers were inside of it. Like his old living spaces just inside the front door, now a fortified barracks for his nineteen Tegma. Sans the decorations that had been moved to the new master quarters.

He knew that there were two more sets of vertically stacked storage tunnels, just like this, lined up perfectly square and around fifty feet through the rock on either side. Coldower was particular about symmetry of design. There was no cross access as yet, just the stairwells on either end coming down from the top.

Closing his eyes, he could feel the lights spaced along the tunnel roof, one for each set of opposing storage alcoves, taking the smallest trickle of power flow from his Shard.

Their crystalline matrices would still give light, maybe for years, if cut off from that flow, but there was no reason to stop it for now. He could feel hundreds of lights just like them throughout the keep as he focused, the smallest of the draws on the Shard, all separate physically but all present in the alter-dimensional place where the Shard truly existed.

He knew now that the orb itself was just a focus, a key, though a very important one for him. The crystalline matrix of its structure was massively more complex than the lights above, which structure itself served mostly as a stable pathway to the true alter-dimensional existence of the Shard.

Which itself was a mere pocket within the vast Field of the Shards of the Unity, all linked across space and isolated realms because where they truly existed there was no space, only strange dimensions that his own mind could barely touch upon.

He could feel all the draws from the Shard, to the lights and the powered doors and water capillaries and air exchangers and construction equipment and battle orbs and more…all of them, up to the steady flow to the largest constant draw, the Keep Shield.

His mouth quirked. He called it the Keep Shield. Shondrub just referred to it as the standing defenses, but the Svart had no real concept of the nature of those defenses. Kole knew more, though he acknowledged to himself that true understanding of Shard tech was really beyond him. He did know that the Keep Shield was a single large draw upon the Shard interwoven to numerous crystals embedded in the very white stone of the tunnels and rooms of the keep, phasing the whole thing just slightly out of tune with the rest of the world.

He found himself stepping back into the alcove to learn even more about the shield effect of Shard phasing techniques, but stopped abruptly and shook himself a bit.

"Things to do, Kole," he enunciated slowly, the spoken words helping to bring him out of the drifting trance where he accessed the Shard.

The Stillness withdrew slightly; he walked down to the end of the tunnel and started up the stairs.

Up he went, past the first three storage tunnels on this stack, into the lower Growth Chambers. The space was contiguous, with open air to most of the separate growth areas, but arches and pillars cut off sight beyond a certain distance. The stairwell he was on ended at a door opening out into the growth spaces, but the walls of it continued up and merged to become a pillar for the room.

Personally he thought it would be easier if there were main stairwells going top to bottom of the keep, but when he had mentioned it Coldower had muttered something about air currents and redundant symmetries and then just stared at Kole until he changed the subject.

He walked on, through the intermingled smells of herbs and plants and animals and their fresh manure that wafted through air suddenly warmer and more humid than the tunnels below.

The air barrier/exchanger at the doorway of the stairwell could not be felt directly, but he knew it was there, had noted it in the now ever-present Stillness

as he ed through.

It was mid-morning in the day-night cycle kept in the keep generally and especially in the Growth Chambers, as shown by the quality of light given by the interspersed light crystals. A young goat bleated plaintively somewhere off to the left, asking to be fed.

He ed between two spaces given over to cereals, tall shoots of spelt on the left and oats on the right, tended to by some of his bound refugees permitted in the keep itself. They glanced at him as he ed, none staring outright though he could feel their eyes on him as he walked through.

"Mister Kole, Mister Kole!"

A small girl ran up to him and held a little bunch of green onions straight up over her head in both hands with an exuberant smile. Bits of moisture glistened on them as though they had just been washed.

"They're already ripe! See how fast they grow here? We're going to have them in our salad today!"

Leaning over to smell the onions, he smiled back down at her and touched her hair gently with one hand. The clean happy child contrasted with the worn and patched clothing.

"I do see. Best you get those back to the others now, or they won't get into the

salad."

"Ok!"

With that she was off again, swinging wide around the oats and then past a pillar. A honeybee buzzed around his head as he watched her go, bright green with purple bands instead of the standard pre-Center yellow and black. Most of the fresh greens were over that way.

In the Stillness, he could feel the gentle unseen fields around each growth area, facilitating and encouraging the quickened life cycles of individual crops, each calibrated and anchored by its own ring of crystals under the worked soil.

After ing between several spaces of a bluish Center wheat analogue interspersed with normal Terran grain crops, he came to another stairwell that led up.

This one had a portal installed just past the air barrier/exchanger. The surface was grey in color but sparkled like tiny diamonds in a grid pattern across. Coldower had shown him the extruder device that formulated plain coal into durable forms such as the portal, one of the many other devices powered through the Shard.

The Gronma tending a blue-wheat space beside the stairwell hummed to itself as it worked, flicking its tail at Kole as he ed but not otherwise acknowledging him.

He stopped at the portal, ignoring the Gronma in turn, to close his eyes again and breathe deep and listen.

There were lilacs somewhere nearby; a chicken brawked from a bit past the stairwell.

The scents and sounds merged into his memories of this place, along with the sights of the energetic child and of the careful patience of the aged Tat-Dastra in the blue-wheat space. Touching a stud beside the portal, he ed through and on up the stairs.

The portal silently closed behind him as he touched another stud, just as it had silently opened before him.

Making a roundabout way up stairs and through various chambers of the keep, Kole noted Gronma and refugees working or playing or just sitting and talking, but did not stop or speak.

Stepping into one particular chamber near the center of the keep, he found the six figures he had asked to wait for him there. He closed the portal by touching a stud on the wall, shutting out the single Tegma standing guard outside.

Walking past the others without speaking, he sat down at the head of the long oval table of smooth white stone that rose unbroken from the floor. Touching another stud near his grey sparkling chair, he could feel a shivering field come into being in the walls and door of the chamber, though there was no change perceptible to his physical senses other than the stud flipping color from red to blue.

A faint smile crossed his face as he surveyed the others sitting in the plain chamber, adorned just with table and chairs and a single square hanging flag behind him—a partial white circle rising as though a sphere in semi-eclipse from the bottom with a single blue star above, all over a field of black.

Seated in a line down from his right were Shondrub, Coldower, and Shh-tuk.

The spined, lizard-like Tat-Dastra was old and stooped, but still lithe and it crouched easily on top of the chair that its long flat tail would not otherwise permit. The tail was curved around in front of it and flicked back and forth as clawed fingers, webbed halfway up their lengths, toyed delicately with its frills.

The eye visible on the left side of the head of the Gronma watched Kole steadily above firm rounded lips closed over fang-like teeth. Loops of copper disks hung around its neck and arms and waist, though it was not otherwise clothed.

Eldora, Tatiana, and Mari sat across from them in a line down from his left. The human women sat upright and still, but the Vanyr woman slouched back a bit with her hands tented before her.

A faintly chastising expression remained on her face as she gazed steadily at him, then spoke. "You are still determined to do this thing? You would find far better chances with Family Kaikon, with the other great Families, even with a lesser Family like the Isnar. There are many better ways to protect your keep and all of your new…retainers from the Atlag."

Kole switched gears mentally to speak in Standard.

"The Kaikon," he named the Family with its Vanroc floating near Maracaibo, "would love to gain a legal enclave this close to the Atlag at Chicago, I'm sure, but we have been over this, Eldora. The keep will remain independent in my absence. The Shard will remain here and if need be the House Shield can draw its full output. Just bring everyone inside if it gets bad."

"The defenses will not hold against everything, fief-lord," Shondrub spoke up on his right. "We cannot hope to withstand the full might of Family Atlag."

Eldora gazed across at him with her glittering green eyes as the Svart again put forth his preferred option. "Pledge fealty to them, return your Shard to their purview and bring them the full enclave of this fief. I am certain the materfamilias will be brought to see reason by the rest of the Family."

"Despite my killing her favorite child? Maybe.

"But I'm not going to find out. And yes, the shield can be breached with sufficient Shard power, but the Atlag don't even know that we're here yet and can't be bothered with that right now if they did. All they know is that Bersi was supposed to be bridged into the eastern part of North America, aiming at the general area of the Appalachian Mountains, and that there was no link to his Shard when the main transition arrived.

"Stay close to the keep while I'm gone and don't tell anything to anyone from the Center. The House Shield is calibrated for stealth and Coldower or Eldora can change that if need be. It should be fine."

Looking back at Eldora, the fief-lord continued, "The Kaikon or the Varsin at San Francisco or the Hroi at Edinburgh or any of the Families in any realm, greater or lesser, it doesn't matter. To the Vanyr," he reached out with his left hand to touch her shoulder and quirk another smile, "to most Vanyr, I will be seen as a freak and a threat, fealty or no."

With a sigh he looked back down the table and decided to have it all out again. "Coldower?"

The brown skinned Nidavell sat stolidly for a long moment, then reached up to tug on the black braid of his beard.

"Clan Padde has contracts with Family Atlag," he said, looking at the Svart beside him. He shifted his gaze to the Vanyr across the table. "We also have contracts with a dozen other Families besides, and more."

He turned the steady regard of those sky blue eyes on Kole. "Our deal still stands?"

"It stands. Land deeded to Clan Padde, with legal status within my enclave and preferred use for contracted services. Resources granted to establish your own keep."

The fief-lord smiled a grim smile at the stocky figure. "If I live. You built this keep for me; you can build another for your clan. Work on that and other projects can continue while I'm gone, as discussed."

Those clear blue eyes smiled grimly back at Kole, though he didn't think the mouth actually moved. "If you live. Then Clan Padde will split and make another home here. Things are pretty crowded back at the other one."

That stout neck turned as he swept his gaze across the others present. "I stand with Family Starfall, and Clan Padde behind me—when they hear of it."

Kole saw Eldora grimace just slightly at the mention of his newly minted Family name. Her expressions were very subtle, but he had learned to catch them by watching her carefully.

Down across from Shh-tuk, Mari smiled down at her hands as the Nidavell spoke. She had helped with the name.

"As for the venture, well, life is chaos and risk. Chaos and risk," Coldower intoned again in his slow basso voice, looking up at the wall across from him and thumping the table with a meaty fist. "It is only by hard work and luck that any of us get by."

The eyes gleamed a bit as that gaze shifted to Eldora. "The high lords of the Vanyr would never do this thing. They would never think of putting down their powers and they will never think another would do it either. The plan is good— risky, but good. We will find out if the work is good too."

With a single nod at the room in general the Nidavell fell silent.

Kole waited for a short while after the stout figure fell silent, taking a little time to process what for Coldower had been a voluble outpouring. Then he looked over at the others further down the table, seeing that Shondrub and Eldora did not try to break in again.

"Other thoughts?"

Mari looked over at Tatiana, biting her lip, as the mocha skinned woman leaned forward to fix Kole with those soulful dark eyes.

"What of us, lord, if you fall? The keep will hold, for a time, but only for a time. There is no future here for us without you. Must you go?"

He sighed again, nodding and rubbing his scalp a bit as he looked down at the table. His mind knew what to do, even as his instinct was to close off the emotions that rose in response to the plea. He swallowed, but got the words out smoothly.

"I don't want to leave you," shifting his gaze from Tatiana to Mari to Eldora.

He looked over to the other side of the table with a lighter expression. "Any of you, really. I like it here and there is much we could accomplish together.

"But Tatiana," he looked back at her and Mari, "all of you," sweeping a harder look across the others, "this thing must be done. And I will do it."

Breaking the firmness, he leaned back in his chair and grasped the back of his neck with both hands.

"Humanity might prosper under the Vanyr, or at least some people will who find ways to be useful or ways to carve out a place for themselves in the Center. They're out there now, as slaves, or cooperating with independents from the Center, or forming new groups of their own that may get by and may not. If by luck they don't break Center law some independent groups might survive.

"And we're dying. Dying every day and billions more will be gone before things stabilize. I can't change that. Not with one minor Shard and this small keep. I can barely take in a few thousand people without swamping us. But I can fight for a future where humans have hope again, hope for more than just their own lives."

He sat forward with his arms on the table, smiling faintly at Tatiana. "I don't want to leave you. I've done what I can and you should be able to get by somewhere even if I die."

Feeling a bit wrung out from explaining, from his own hopes tied up in it, and from the worry in Tatiana's eyes and Mari's, even faint but there in Eldora's, he looked at each of the six in turn.

"Not that people are just humans. If I can pull this off all of the Center will get shaken up, and lord knows it could use it. Things are decadent with the Vanyr near-monopoly on Shard use, with the Families claiming every scrap of power they can get just to compete with each other—"

He cut that off, knowing that none of them had access to the knowledge he had sifted out from the Shard, that each of them had their own beliefs and thoughts.

"Anyway, I'm going to do it. I hope to make things better for everyone, if possible, but in any case better for all the people I can."

He drummed his fingers on the table briefly. "This is our last meeting before I leave tomorrow. You all know your duties?"

Shondrub spoke quietly, bottom eyes closed but the top two looking at him steadily. "Company Lobsal exclusively contracts with Family Atlag, but my contract with Bersi was technically independent of that and so now is mine with Family Starfall. Those of Company Lobsal always fulfill their contracts, and so I shall continue to fulfill my duties as best I may."

The Svart, which he now knew to be rather young for that species, bowed his head to the fief-lord.

Coldower merely grunted. After a moment, Kole looked at the Tat-Dastra. "Your people will continue to work as directed?"

The creature swept its arms out and bowed while seated, speaking a single hissing word in Standard, "Yesss."

"Any comments on the plan?"

Coming out of the bow, Shh-tuk merely tilted its head quizzically and turned its clawed hands palm up.

Kole knew both it and the rest of his Gronma were more intelligent than they let on, maybe as smart or smarter than the average human, but they were all careful to maintain the dumb laborer facade. Shh-tuk attended these meetings because he ordered it to do so and always carefully watched everything. It understood Standard and could probably speak it well enough, but he had never conversed with it. One new language so fast had him feeling stretched as it was so he hadn't even tried for the lizard-like tongue. The Tat-Dastra spoke among themselves in their own language and obeyed instruction, but that was all. He couldn't even figure out what genders they were or if they had any.

He snorted softly, looking at it, then moved on.

"Mari, you have charge of the Growth Chambers and pretty much all the organic supplies, under Shondrub's direction." He looked at her expectantly.

"All right." Mari smiled at him shyly as she spoke in her soft voice, and he smiled back. He knew she loved being around growing things and especially the young animals.

"Tatiana, you're still liaison with all the humans, also under Shondrub. I know some of them act funny with you, the locals more than the road people and transplants, but you're still human and they can relate to that. Try to be understanding."

"Of course." She looked at him with her head tilted back and dark brows raised,

a knowing look, speaking in accented but clear English. "I don't mind the hillbillys and their silly ideas."

He cleared his throat with a wry look back at her. "You still have final say on who is bound to the keep and who isn't, who can come in and who can't. I trust your judgment on people."

She sat back upright and nodded at him, switching to Standard. "Thank you."

Eldora leaned over in her graceful way and stroked a hand down Kole's arm.

"And I, being me, will speak with any of the Center that come by." She slanted her eyes over at the Svart. "As advised by Shondrub."

Raising a hand to her brow, palm out, she swelled her chest and raised her voice a bit, "Oh, my dear lord, he will not come out of the keep for any reason. All of these humans are his pets. Running wild I know but he won't take the time to train them properly. We obey his whims, of course, but when will it end?"

Her demeanor changed again, back to subtle grace and precise words.

"Nothing so crude if they come, but none will know that dear departed Bersi is not alive within and wallowing in his pleasures." She ran a finger along the edge of her neckline, giving Kole a smug look from the corner of her eyes. Those strange cat-gem eyes that could mesmerize as she wished.

"Bersi was always stubborn and the Atlag will take this as more of the same. He could have severed the links to his Shard immediately on arrival, once free from easy retribution."

Kole ran a hand across her long straight hair, causing it to sway between her back and the chair.

"Thank you, Eldora. I'm sure your efforts will be superb, as always. that you are also to assist Coldower with any re-calibrations or technical issues that come up."

At her moue he batted her hair again, gently. "You're the best one for it and you know it. The House Shield in particular is your responsibility while I'm gone."

He leaned toward her, almost nose to nose, bringing her face over with the lightest touch of his hand. He stared deep into her eyes, watching those slit pupils grow as he did, and murmured, "I trust you."

He leaned back and watched as the pulse throbbed in her neck and she folded her hands in her lap, looking down. "As well you should. The defenses will be flawless."

She darted a glance up at him and flashed a smile before looking back down.

He stood, looking at Shondrub. "You will continue the classes on Unity law for the refugees?"

The Svart broke into a rare smile, looking odd with his thin lips. "I will, fieflord. It is my pleasure to fulfill that duty."

Kole looked over at Coldower. "The combat training will continue, for any who wish to commit?" Another grunt, in the same affirmative tone as the last, was his answer. He moved on.

"Mari, Tatiana, Eldora, and Shondrub will each have one or more Tegma guarding them at all times outside of private quarters, once I leave the keep." He glanced at them in turn.

"I know you can all look after yourselves, but there may be fewer misunderstandings this way. The Tegma will still obey orders from each of you here except for Shh-tuk—sorry, but they just won't take orders from Gronma— but they also have standing orders from me which are overriding. Understood?"

At the round of nods and murmured acceptance he pressed the blue stud again, flipping it to red. The Stillness drifted closer as he noted the dispersal of the special field—intended for privacy, mostly, but strong enough that they might not notice a bomb going off right outside the portal. The Shard-draw was significant.

"Until later, then."

They each nodded to him and filed out. The three women did so with smiles of their own. He stood there in that chamber for another few moments, in the quiet,

then strode out briskly. His last day in the keep, for now, and there was much yet to do before his last night.

Eight

Jorlin border keep under the Banka Strait.Late evening.

Cassandra continued to monitor the output readings in the holo display before her, light bridged between two flat sheets of crystal, as the tidal shift approached.

With the peak of the monsoon coming in a few weeks and winds steady out of the southeast, the current would continue to flow north through the shallow strait but she wanted to check on the variation in rate as the strong diurnal tide shifted.

Her gaze moved periodically between the holo display on its thin stand and the exterior water itself, easily visible through the thin transparent crystal of the dome.

She shivered a bit involuntarily as she lay stretched out on the reclining couch drawn close up against the side of this smaller dome, thinking about the seeming fragility of the construction. They were only under about twenty meters of water here at the channel at the center of the strait, but that was quite enough to be dangerous for human constructions.

The Jorlin personnel in general seemed blase about the matter. The several Vanyr at the outpost had been amused, not concerned, when some Indonesians onshore had managed to get a torpedo to launch at this very dome, one of several out at the edges of the complex.

She had been present during the impact, if one should call it that, watching.

The compressed explosion and rapid expansion of gases had been clearly visible on the exterior of the crystal, after a flash of golden light, but none of the shock had transmitted through. Just the faintest rumble underfoot as the seabed was impacted, nothing more.

The event was largely ignored by all but the indigenous Terrans.

She wiped a hand, once, down over her face, to help bring her mind back to focus. A habit acquired since that day of capture from the ISS. Purely psychological, but she found it useful. Every native human she had encountered here had some kind of coping mechanism and hers was mild and harmless.

It brought her back to her observations. Quite apart from the approaching tidal shift, she enjoyed seeing the exotic effects associated with Center technology.

Just then the sun was long past this place and there were no deliberate exterior lights, but flickers of faint evanescent light were playing around the dome exterior, all the dome exteriors from what she could see. The lights, faint and bluish, rippled in and out of sight in spread patterns independent of the steady stream of water flowing past.

Every night out here she had witnessed a similar occurrence, but the effect was always subtly different than the night before. During the daytime there were different effects, less visible but still present.

Even more interesting to the indigenous Terrans and astounding to the biology experts, the local marine life had taken on significant alterations in color and in some cases size and shape.

None of the nearby sea-grass had retained a greenish coloration, becoming predominantly red and gold but with patches of a bright fuscia. The smaller creatures, prawns and crabs and small fish and others, had all seemed to enlarge by perhaps two or three times in addition to color changes. The rays and eels and even sharks in the area seemed to have grown also, though not so much, and had also taken on coloration changes.

Just then a tiger shark swam past her dome, with actual stripes in brilliant red and gold to match the sea-grass.

The tide peaked.

Looking back to the holo display, she jotted down some notes on her pad of the figures given, flow rate and direction mostly, from sensors placed on the individual pylons in line across the strait, rising from seafloor to well above the water just south of the outpost.

She lay oriented mostly south and could see the shimmering field effect between the pylons, almost the same bluish color as tonight's faerie lights. Though some fifty meters away through the water the off-white stone pillars of the pylons were clearly visible, but they and the light screen between them appeared as though the facing of a wall. The water beyond was murky while that which streamed through the field, in the steady flow of the seasonal monsoon, was clear enough to be transparent.

The work was one of the main purposes of this outpost. She understood there to be another much larger cleansing effort at the wider strait between Sumatra and Malacca near Rupat Island, but had not seen it. And supposedly hundreds of similar stations would be established throughout the world.

All those of the Center that she had spoken with expressed open disgust at the levels of ocean pollution that had become common on Earth, at the rising acidity of the water and falling biodiversity. Of the dead zones around major river outflows.

The Vanyr in particular became incensed over water pollution. She thought they had something of a proclivity for the water and wondered occasionally about their evolutionary antecedents, but could get no information on the matter.

Sliding down on the couch for more of a recline, she closed her eyes. She was alone in the dome for the moment, as was often the case when she came here late for observations. The occasional privacy was welcome.

They mostly had single quarters, down in the bulk of the outpost tunneled into the rock of the seabed, but they always made her feel closed in so she rarely spent much time there except for sleep. Her actual duties were light, as were those of all of the other indigenous humans she had spoken to.

There were several hundred of them at this outpost, many highly educated such as herself, gathered from universities and research facilities like the ISS and elsewhere. A roughly even mixture of males and females, they were encouraged to socialize and stay relaxed and even let loose a bit as they learned more about Center civilization and Unity law—

Her eyes flew open.

Dio, are they trying to breed us? But so indirectly?

Turning on the couch and coming upright, she repositioned the variable stand of the holo display before her. Rows of studs, colored and shaped, covered the horizontal surface from which the crystal sheets of the display sides rose.

She touched one to home the display and another to bring up the search function.

Center technology was strange in many ways, but one aspect that both fascinated and frustrated her was that there was no real equivalent for computing or programming. All such was accomplished by living minds.

Just then she was not accessing a search engine or database, but rather ing one of the servitors that mentally navigated whatever databases that the Jorlin leaders had made available to them. She had asked for direct access, many had asked, but they were told it was not possible.

A figure appeared in her display, head and shoulders of a human male, though with a combination of features that she would not place in any Terran background she was familiar with. A human of the Center then, though she had not spoken to this one previously.

That there were already many humans in the Center had been shocking at first to

most of the indigenous personnel, but was accepted now. Though with a number of unanswered questions. A yellow crystal band circled his brow, distinctly visible in the sharp colored display.

"Yes, Researcher, what is your query?"

She understood the Standard clearly, but as usual when hearing it she also felt ghostly prickles across the back of her head. Presumably this was a side effect from the device used to implant the language directly into her brain.

Researcher was her current title, as with many of the indigenous humans gathered here. She had offered to do the astronomical work of her specialty, but Family Jorlin at least seemed little interested in astronomy.

She pushed down the outrage that attitude continued to evoke in her and focused on this new thread.

"Yes, thank you, are there any Unity law stipulations regarding forced breeding of intelligent species?" The words tumbled out as she attempted courtesy to the being but also wanted instant access to the information.

Those eyes closed, but underneath the lids still moved, as reminiscent of REM sleep cycles. Blinking open again, the man answered in the same emotionless tone.

"Such is forbidden under Unity law, as are all long term breeding programs save

those for non-intelligent species as cleared by Center bureaucracy waivers. Procreation for intelligent species is limited by environmental and economic factors and also certain other restrictions, but when engaged in must be a matter of mutual personal choice, as upheld by Center representatives and stipulated by Unity law."

The mouth closed but the head cocked to the side and his eyes flicked down as though looking at a note, before he returned to the facing posture.

"I should also inform you that while Family Jorlin would never seek to require you to procreate, we fully you in your choice should you wish to do so. For at least one child. Any such child would be carefully nurtured and provided with good accommodations and education, to enable it to fully realize the best possible future for itself."

The man gazed at her for a moment. No traces of emotion had crossed his face throughout the speech. "Do you have another query, Researcher?"

"No," she said, touching the stud to home the display and expelling air from her nose in a soft snort. Her eyes gazed fixedly through the display and more anger rose in her, but she pushed it back down, ing a hand, once, down over her face.

She stood, face calm again, collapsing the stand for her display to carry it with her. She then hurried across to the stairs spiraling down from an opening in the floor on one side, just inside the dome from a clump of pink sea-grass, and into the outpost proper toward her quarters.

As with most evenings there were mixers in several gathering chambers and various games to engage in, but she did not feel like entertainment just now—or socializing.

Sitting down within her small but private quarters, ignoring the stone pressing in all around her, she closed her eyes and thought.

The day's events and observations, including the last moderately enraging bit, trickled through her mind and were all filed away. As were all her observations of the xenos that had invaded and conquered her world.

The ESA was gone and the nations of the world were tearing themselves apart in the wake of failed communications and failed technology as the dwindling survivors competed for food and other necessities. She knew this, though very little such information was offered to the semi-captive 'Researchers' at the outpost, and always carefully and apologetically explained as an inevitable consequence of human over-breeding and irresponsibility absent the guidance of the Center.

The ESA was gone, her world was dying to be reborn afresh, like the clear cleaned water outside the domes and the fantastic creatures living in it…but she was still a European, still Italiana, and she would not forget.

Some of the ISS group, especially the American and Russian males, had refused to cooperate and been taken off to she knew not where.

Fools that they are, she thought. She would continue to be calm and helpful and to learn as much as she could.

She ed her hand, once, down across her face and then brought up the display again. She wondered if she could find out any more about the mysterious power source that was used for all of the crystalline devices of the Center, find out indirectly of course as she asked about Unity law and Center civilization and things related to her own duties.

The answer to her insight about breeding had gotten her emotional but she was usually more careful, would have to be more careful. There was plenty of time before low tide to do some research and still get some rest.

Nine

He breathed deep.

Kole took in the smell of the morning air as he stood outside the front door of the holler keep. His mouth twitched a smile as he thought again about making that the official name. The place had changed quite a bit, though not near as much out here as on the inside.

A few more trees had been cleared, not many but enough that he could make out what had been a fishing pond past where the side ridges opened up into a broader valley. The pond had been reshaped, elongated and enclosed in white stone.

A graceful bridge of the same white arched over the center while fountains, like spirals of curved white stone, bracketed the bridge from either end. The falling water flashed silver as it reed the pond itself.

There were hints of that same silver in the leaves of all the trees he could see and also in the light mist that seemed to play with the eyes, there and then not, wherever the woods broke into something else. The sight was unworldly.

He knew the changes, these and many others, were byproducts of the Shardfields and Shard use, but they still took him aback at times. Moving through the trees themselves, as least near the keep, had become disorienting to anyone without guidance of some kind linked to the keep and Shard. An offshoot of the

standing defenses.

The stumps were cleared away here around the front door, as was the old pavilion. Grass, green and silver and short, grew wherever it could find a place, but at the center there was a wash of white stone. It was mostly flat, but curved around on all the edges and a texture was formed by fine shallow grooves making odd patterns in the surface.

He had seen it in the rain; as the water ran off and through the grooves it had formed a pattern like a shifting picture in white and blue and silver, showing his House flag seeming to ripple in a breeze while figures looked on with raised hands. The sheer artistry astounded him and he had no idea how Eldora and Coldower had managed it.

Just then a number of the Tat-Dastra were assisting Coldower to build a square stone platform over top of the artwork. No sense in showing the new emblem to anyone that came by during a storm. Kole could see a gap of several inches of hollow space between the new temporary stone working, nearly a foot thick itself, and the artwork rising six inches above the ground.

Coldower rode one of the compact extruder machines, carefully manipulating the controls, as it floated along the growing edge and stone seemed to flow outward along that edge of the new platform. Distantly Kole felt a complex series of tiny Shard-fields, around the extruder but really within his Stillness.

Some of the Gronma kept filling the hopper behind Coldower as rough chunks of the local shale seemed to disappear out of it. Others were washing down the new stone or smoothing out displaced soil around the edges.

All around them and the dry and fast disappearing water mural taking up the middle of the clearing, a series of large open arches formed a semicircle border for the clearing just inside the tree line, some paved underneath in stone paths and some just over grass. The last arches merged in to the side of the ridge behind him, about a hundred feet away in both directions as he stood in front of the open door, on either end of what formed a retaining wall of the white stone holding back the slope of the ridge.

The wall itself was featureless, for now at least. The split leaves of the door behind him, twice his height and twice as wide again, were of the same diamond patterned gray material that Coldower made out of the native coal, but when closed and barred the House Shield merged their appearance into the flat white stone of the wall, unbroken and featureless.

Between the arches around the edge of the clearing and the growing platform in the center, groups of people stood on the grass or the stone pathways and looked on. Human refugees mostly, but some were the local people that lived scattered around this rural area.

Most of the locals still refused to accept that the realities of the Center were here to stay, holding tight to what they had and waiting for things to get back to normal. For the power to come back up or the government to come back in and fix things. The trickle of refugees that made it to this remote area, caught driving on the road when their cars stopped or pushed out of other areas because of violence or just the search for food, were more willing to embrace changes.

They all got fed just the same, anyone that made it to the area of the keep or could carry some away. Better food was just starting to flow out of the accelerated Growth Chambers, but Coldower had produced a small extruder that took in any kind of organic waste and fed out a thick flat sheet of a bread-like fungus. Rations for the Tegma, apparently, but production was easy to scale up. In whatever colors you chose but all in the same nearly tasteless mushroom

flavor.

The rainbow loaf that Kole had decided on, after the swirl pattern of rainbow sherbet, was not very popular but it kept people alive and kept them working. A chunk the size of his fist would feed an adult for an entire day.

Locals and refugees alike saw the need to make more food and many of the open fields in the area had been laboriously hand planted with whatever seed could be found. And had plastic thrown up in attempts to extend the growing season for the late planting.

With the dwindling local food stocks this was mostly fueled by the rainbow loaf produced day and night. Some of his own keep-bound refugees moved past him as he stood there, carrying armloads of the stuff to give out to the people waiting.

Kole adjusted the straps of the pack he wore, gathered from his old campsite, and ran his hands over the clothing he had on. Shirt and pants felt strange to him at that point, and his old leather hiking boots even more so. Hitching the pack on his shoulders, he walked over to the left and toward the grand arch and the white stone trail that ran down past the pond and up to the state highway.

Some of the people in the clearing looked at him curiously as he ed, but no one paid him a lot of attention. The show in the middle was much more interesting than just another refugee walking by, nice hiking backpack or not. People living inside the keep knew he was in charge, but they also knew to keep that quiet—were in fact sworn to do so.

He had made a point to let people outside stay in the dark as much as possible,

so they were mostly just told that the keep was founded by the Vanyr Bersi Atlagson and that those of the keep were not really supposed to talk about things inside.

Shondrub and Tatiana came out and gave speeches to tell people about the Center and how the Earth was now part of it, that there were great orbital stations that allowed the new technology to work and also stopped electrical things from working and so on. Shondrub then gave classes on Unity law for the interested while Tatiana felt out anyone she thought might be brought inside. A select few of whom then underwent combat training with Coldower during off hours.

Some people outside believed the speeches and some didn't. Thus far goodwill had been maintained by the steady flow of food coming out. And helped along by the ever present and well-armed Tegma bodyguards with their fully powered battle orbs. The House Shield guaranteed that those not calibrated in simply could not cross the threshold of the doorway.

Kole shook his head a bit as he ed through the great arch northward. Hoping the lid would stay on while he was gone but unwilling to just button up the keep completely in the meantime.

He paused just past the arch and looked back the other way. Across the clearing was another of the great arches, over a stone path that that would go on to tunnel directly under the saddle on the east-west ridge line that he had stood on at the beginning of this. Before that first Tegma, before fighting Bersi. These folded lands would change even more now that making tunnels was so easy.

He shook his head again and turned back to his path, moving on.

A small group of people waited for him down by the pond. Sheri Walker and her brother Clayton Kenton were talking quietly with each other but turned to him as he came up.

She spoke, her eyes flicking around restlessly, "Time to go?"

"Long trip. Might as well get started," he answered.

"Yes, s—ser," she half-stuttered out the address, but quietly, before they all started walking.

For several reasons, Kole had tried to insist on the neutral term of ser instead of the standard sir that veterans liked to use, which most of this group were. Sheri had been Coast Guard and Clayton Navy. Tom Donovan and Tammy Savage were both former Army. Charlie Platt hunted and was generally an outdoors person and was maybe the best suited of them all to this particular trek.

Clayton and Sheri fell in beside him, but he waved the other three ahead for this first bit.

The middle aged woman with the almost birdlike frame and movements shifted her carbine to a left hand carry and continued to look around nervously, as always since the day Kole met her. She walked on his right. On the other side her younger brother stumped along holding a long shotgun at port arms, beard started years before hanging down to a large beer belly.

They each bore a pack, as did the three ahead with Charlie on point, though none quite as nice as the one Kole had splurged on before this all got started. Kole himself wore a pistol on one leg and an axe, a Coldower special, was strapped to the side of the pack. Not the battle-sword he had won from Bersi—that would scream Vanyr to anyone of the Center that saw it.

Each of the others also had a melee weapon of their choice to go along with a scrounged firearm. Tammy had requested a katana and had the hilt of a sword of that general design poking past her pack and beside her head.

Sheri spoke as they juked over the highway for a little and onto a county road running mostly north for this stretch. There was a light scattering of stopped vehicles on both roads, some pulled over to the side and some just sitting in lane or in the middle.

"Those canoes might be gone by the time we get there. Our houses aren't that close to town, but some people know about them and could have grabbed them."

Mostly keeping in the Stillness as he walked, Kole was trying to gauge how the Shard and the markers of its many draws changed as he moved away, but he answered the repeated caution as he had before.

"If they're gone then so be it. We'll have to improvise. You two know the area and the river. Something will come up."

At this she grimaced and nodded, still looking around nervously.

The siblings had both worked river barges on the Ohio, mostly coal going downstream and petroleum products coming up. They and their family had all lived, before, outside of Maysville, about a hundred miles due north on the south bank of the Ohio River. Those canoes and the river, or some boats anyway, would make the trip downstream to the Wabash much easier and faster than trying to walk the whole way to St. Louis.

Probably.

The trip back up river would be harder on the other five, but they could take their time about it. They each carried enough rainbow loaf to last a month and more.

The Nidavell engineer had also produced a flask for each of them, with one to spare, that would pour out pure water no matter what you had to fill it with. The very light markers of those seven Shard-draws were almost the only ones Kole could sense clearly as they continued north.

The siblings and many of their family had been caught on the road nearby, out for a holiday trip when the cars stopped working. The same for Tom and Charlie. Their families were now all safe in the keep; the four had been willing to help out with the risky venture rather than sit behind the walls, in part out of gratitude for the shelter in troubled times.

Tammy was a bit different, single like Clayton, but the woman lived alone not far away. She said she wanted along just for fun. Which seemed maybe a little crazy to Kole, but she was sincere enough and had spent some time at the sharp end. In the time since she had been doing something in marketing, but Charlie

was a pharmacist and Tom had been in real estate. It was a good time to brush off old skills and to gain some new ones.

They walked on, cutting off the county road into some woods when the road swung east. Charlie briefly consulted the best map they had been able to find, a state road map of Kentucky, as they moved through the brush up toward a ridge line. Comes were useless now and had been since the realm transition, but they still had the sun and stars for direction.

Breathing deep on the slope, Kole adjusted the straps on his pack again. He glanced over his shoulder near the top. The keep was gone to his eyes but the Shard still pulsed in the Stillness of his heart.

From this distance he could only feel the draw of the House Shield, along with the water flasks around him.

They moved on, trekking northward through the savage lands that used to be the United States. Some of the leaves were just starting to change to fall colors, here away from the keep where more things were normal. He glanced up at the sky as they went, knowing that the great Field surrounded them all now and soon enough there would be changes everywhere on Earth.

Ten

Near the mouth of the Wabash River.Midnight.

Tammy Savage was bored. Bored, bored, bored. She reached over to flick a spider off of the tree she was sitting against. Night watches were so boring.

Ok, she had asked for the mid-watch. She liked the mid-watch. Everyone else sound asleep and she could stare at them as much as she wanted and even prank them.

She thought for maybe the hundredth time about cutting off Clayton's beard. That would be so funny when he woke up and got all pissed and red in the face, he would never know who did it.

Ok, he would know. So she didn't. But still, it would be funny. Bet he would look like a little round faced baby without the beard. A red faced angry baby.

Shifting her seat around quietly, she found a better position against the tree, still listening to everything. The sound of the river going past was about the only thing she could hear, but she was still on watch so she listened.

They were pulled up on some island on the Ohio right at the mouth of the smaller Wabash. It had trees at this end and high enough ground right now to

camp, just downstream of a weird kind of barge lock that didn't even go all across the river. Which was much better than the other kind of lock with a dam that they had to walk around. And carry the canoes.

She'd thought this trip would be fun, that they could have some action, but no.

Ok, it was kind of fun. There were a couple good scraps. That second day they crossed through a big valley where some town, she thought it was called Stauton or Scranton or something, had a bunch of very angry people. And hungry people. Way too many for that small town, they must have followed the highway up from Lexington. Like they were gonna find more food in the mountains than they would somewhere else.

Anyway the group had to scram past Scranton. Annd she got to shoot some people. Annnd she got to use her katana. Like a boss. They all made it out fine, too. Clayton was such a whiner. When he did talk, anyway. It's not like he had to come back after her, all she was doing was trying out her new sword and he came back and almost ruined it. Anyway he barely got a scratch. That bullet grazed and he was fine now.

She smiled to herself, leaning against the tree, letting her back arch a little.

Like a boss. Swish, swish, you're dead.

And none of her vibrators worked. What kind of alien apocalypse was this when nothing worked right but the guns? Every. Single. One. Of her vibrators. Stopped working. Right in the middle of her little wakeup surprise. Not that it was a surprise after happening every day, but still. What was she supposed to do? Use

a freaking dildo?

She considered the men around her again, one at a time. Maybe…but no. Sooo not worth it.

Tom and Charlie were out, she knew the type. She could bring them around but then they would get all weird and considerate and clingy and if they made it back to their wives they would spill the whole thing and then—so not worth it.

She arched an eyebrow and glanced over at Sheri. Nah, she was all serious and sergeant and stuff around Kole. Maybe on the way back…but probably not.

She looked at baby faced Clayton and the beard again and shuddered, looking away quickly. Her gaze crossed over Kole as she did, and paused.

He wasn't her type, all scrawny and just walked around with sleepy eyes and a silly little smile and acted like he knew things that nobody else did. But there was something about him…when some action happened he turned cold and sharp and scary and moved fast and smooth like some kind of tiger.

She felt a shiver up her spine and her hand started to drift downward, but then she hugged herself and looked away. He's not my type. All bossy and weird.

Tammy shifted her seat again, chin raised, and looked at the moon for a while. Almost full in a clear sky, there was plenty of light to work in. She bet she could cut off half of Clayton's beard and tie it to his long hair and he would just keep

snoring like a fat baby.

Maybe on the way back. After they got past Louisville again. That had been fun, not like Cincinnati where they just paddled right by in an hour or so with a few people waving at them from the bridges. And mister Kole-in-charge looking like a crucified Jesus looking at the few scrawny people and all the dead bodies laying by the river and floating on the river.

She ate a little more of the nasty rainbow loaf as she sat there, feeling bored again. Washing it down with the last of her water, she shook the empty flask with a grimace. Damn things are always going empty. You'd think they could make a magic canteen that didn't need to be filled. Or at least that held more than one damn pint.

But Louisville should be fun again on the way back too. There was more of it along the river and they spent almost half a day getting past just going downstream.

She wondered if they would even go back through there. Sheri said it wasn't worth it to paddle all that way and they should just cut south on 165 after ing Owensboro, to follow it to Bowling Green and the Cumberland Parkway to back home. But Clayton said he would rather float than walk even going upstream. Then Kole would say that Sheri's in charge on the way back, in that creepy cold voice while he looked around at nothing, and everybody would stop talking again.

Maybe she could get Sheri to follow the river on the way back. Louisville had been really fun. Tammy leaned back a bit and let her eyes drift almost closed as she ed, still listening to the water.

***

"Oh, yeah! You're dead! Annnd you're dead. And yooou're dead! Dammit. Now you're dead!"

"Tammy, keep back with us! We can't move off without the canoes."

She grinned back over her shoulder at Sheri after pulling her sword back through the face of the stupid stubborn cannibal. That wouldn't even die with his guts all sliced in half. The other two were twitching a little but they were gone. The eyes still looked crazy, even dull in death, and the boils they had sticking out everywhere were still oozing puss.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming back."

And this is better than coming, she thought as she strutted back to the rest of them, circled around the downed canoes that they still had to carry around the twisted mass all across the river and cutting up over the bank.

Fallen steel bridge and barges and containers and dead trees didn't block the flow but there was no good way past on top of the water. Right there in the middle of the city.

She flicked her sword down to get some of the blood off and tried not to think about what she just got splashed on her from the dead cannibals.

Kole had his ax out but everybody else held a gun ready. Just then Clayton and Tom started shooting at another bunch running at them.

She moved around behind the shooters and watched the back while they did. There were cars stopped all over and plenty of places to hide. She kept an angle so she could look both ways, shifting her head back and forth.

Some of them shot back, but Charlie, knelt down in front of her with his hunting rifle, let out two measured shots and the return fire quit. Tom was using controlled shots too, one into each target before moving on. The heavy rounds from his AK meant that one was plenty.

Beside him, Clayton blasted away until they were all down and then fired a few more rounds into the bodies.

"Watch your ammo!" Sheri snapped at her brother. She punctuated the order with a smack to the back of his head. Her other arm, all skinny sinew, gripped the short rifle she hadn't bothered to fire.

Clayton scowled at his sister but checked fire. "We got 'em all, didn't we?" He stumped forward a couple steps as he loaded more shells and just stood watching the bodies.

They had seen a few of the diseased looking forms from the river before landing, but just a few and they scuttled off. Charlie said he thought the skin problems meant they were eating other people.

To which Kole had nodded grimly while he stared off at nothing and then told them to land the canoes there on the left bank so they could get around. And then took his ax out in one hand and used the other to carry the back half of their canoe while Tammy and Charlie carried the front.

He was stronger than he looked.

They had dropped the canoes at the first rush of two crazy looking freaks, with her own three back and to one side. Tammy got to hers with her shiny new katana while the others got the first two with a few shots. She liked her sword a lot better than her wimpy nine mil pistol.

But her eyes got wide and she got that out too as more moving forms appeared, all around them. Hundreds of them.

Looking up, she saw more faces appear over the side of the elevated highway up above them and still more on the hanging remainder of the bridge above that. Rocks and other things starting hitting the ground around them. A glass bottle hit just to her left and shattered.

"Fire and move, people!" Kole snapped out as he tossed his ax down into one of the canoes. That forty-five he had still rode in its holster strapped to one thigh.

Grabbing each canoe by the front in one hand, he hauled them forward as he leaned in but walked at a normal pace, eyes lit up over a rictus grin as he pulled. Tammy watched the muscles on both of his forearms ridge up and his traps cut

into lines down from his neck as the aluminum canoes scraped forward over the pavement. A chunk of concrete bounced off of his back but he ignored it.

Then she was too busy to notice much else as all those bodies started running toward them.

Sheri was barking orders. "Tammy, clear us a path! Charlie sniper in the middle! Tom on the left and Clayton hold up the rear!"

She trotted over to the right of the moving canoes as she yelled, then brought up her rifle, sling wrapped over one arm, and started laying down fire.

Tammy was grinning, fierce joy ri in her as she ran past behind Sheri and up front. She got to practice her left-handed head-shots for a few seconds, katana raised high in the other hand, as the mob of cannibals poured at them from all sides.

***

Good times, she thought, ing that running fight back around to clear water with a fond smile. Her face was tilted up toward the moon and she thought it might be smiling back at her. Good times.

They did use up a lot of ammo during the fight, so maybe they shouldn't go back through anyway, but it was still fun. Clayton and Tom were both out and so was she. She still had her pistol and Clayton kept the shotgun, but Tom said it wasn't

worth the weight and left the AK by the side of the river when they camped that night. Too hard to find AK ammo at that point.

She wondered again where she could find some nine mil, rubbing a hand down the katana as she frowned.

She shrugged. Something would turn up. And they were more than halfway done with this leg. Five days to the canoes and the river, eight long days on the water, and Charlie said maybe seven more days north and west overland after this before they could turn back around. If they could find a boat they could float down the Mississippi for a while and that would make the walk back to the canoes a little shorter.

She hoped the canoes would still be there when they got back, wherever they could hide them. Hiking was fine but it got old after a while. And boring. Like paddling on the river. Maybe she could talk Sheri into doing Louisville again.

Her watch was almost done, so she came to her feet and moved slowly over to the snoring form of Clayton, taking out her bush knife as she moved.

She squatted by his head, gently lifting some of the long hair and pinching her fingers tight around a loop that she cut with the knife. Carefully, she gathered all of the severed hair into her hand and started to move back.

Sheri's eyes were open, slits through which the orbs glimmered in the moonlight. Tammy froze, watching her, knife in one hand and hair in the other. A slow smile curved the wrinkles on one side of Sheri's mouth before the eyes closed again.

Tammy let out her breath silently before moving back and over to the tree again. She checked everything around the camp nervously before settling back down.

Sheathing her knife, she dug in her fingers to pull up some dirt and grass. After hiding the hair under the clump she patted it back into place. Bored, bored, bored.

Her gaze darted over to Sheri's unmoving form, but then she looked away and wondered if she should start keeping the hair instead. A smug little smile curved her mouth. When will he notice that his hair is disappearing?

Eleven

He walked alone.

Packless and unarmed, wearing a long kimono-like robe in neutral grey but with silver highlights, Kole moved deliberately down the slope.

A strip of white cloth was tied around his left arm. The rest of his party waited above on the raised interstate highway, but this outpost looked to be heavily armed and serious about it. It was entrenched in a rough oval shape in a field just south of I-64.

His band had ed a civilian airport to the east, had camped last night in the woods north of it, which made the still smoldering fires in the background of this outpost the remains of Scott Air Force Base. Though why it was burning months after the transition he had no idea. Maybe there was still resistance in the area.

It would help explain why the outpost was so heavily fortified. In the predawn light the background glow highlighted a full dugout trench and earthen wall, reinforced with various found materials and dotted with mostly wooden raised towers.

He could see dozens of silhouetted forms along the works. Above one tower two standards flapped occasionally in the intermittent breeze. They hung vertically in Center-style instead of the horizontal Terran convention for flags, lined up next to each other.

The emblem of Family Atlag, black device on a deep red field, was raised slightly above the trade banner that signified a place of commerce. Just below the Atlag standard, a crescent opening up with a shape reminiscent of a fleur-delis sprouting from it, a large bronze ball on the end of a thick shaft tracked his movement.

Like a machine gun turret, he knew this to be a weapon, could feel it in his Stillness as two Tegma moved the discharge end to follow him and the Nidavell behind it waited ready to activate the weapon.

His eyes saw pretty well in the growing light, well enough to make out the guards and their weapons, but many other things were apparent in the Stillness of his mind as he walked toward a gate. His own Shard was there yet, but felt like the merest distant gleam next to the Shard-flows he could feel in the trade outpost. Six of the big directed energy weapons each on its own tower. Charged battle-orbs worn by the Tegma and others.

The Nidavell woman, prepared to obliterate him with a weapon sufficient to turn a main battle tank into a puddle of metal and flaming gas, was wearing one of the battle orbs.

There were no active defenses around the wall of the outpost, but Kole felt the hum of them warding some smaller structures within. Various types of lesser draws were also present. There was no Shard within. He could not fail to notice that even inside the active defenses. All of these draws had been linked and then sent out here.

Which probably wouldn't matter anyway, but he would rather avoid close

inspection by another Shard-wielder for as long as possible. His own group had only the draws of the seven flasks. Which were minor and hardly noticeable, but still maybe enough to evoke curiosity.

This was the first Atlag post they had encountered, despite having crossed into what he calculated was their official claim territory several times on the Ohio and some ways to the east overland here in what used to be Illinois. Which meant that the Family was establishing a presence in the area. Which, besides taking the opportunity to trade, was what brought him to be walking across a killing field wondering if they would decide to immolate him.

Garrisoned Atlag territory meant that they needed official sanction for age to reach the Mississippi. He calculated that St. Louis would be the edge of the new Atlag lands, with most of the city proper beyond the border. Though maybe not if another long shot like Bersi's expedition had paid off.

He stopped well before the gate to address the Svart standing on the wall above it. She must be standing on a stool, or maybe they built a step for her.

He kept the thoughts to himself and was careful to keep his Standard speech formal. "Gatekeeper, I seek age within for myself and my guards. We wish to trade and seek news of the road further west."

The Svart woman looked down at him and ran her fingers along a strand of flesh-tendril hair. It was odd for him to see a Svart face without spectacles covering the lower eyes, but the feature distinctions between Svart genders were clear from his Shard knowledge explorations. The females all had that little ridge running horizontal between the two sets of eyes.

"Who are you and what is your business in the territory of Family Atlag?" she asked.

He answered smoothly, using the detachment afforded by his Stillness to suppress nervousness at his somewhat flimsy story.

"No business except for age west, gatekeeper. I am Sventir Twainborn, representing an independent House sponsored for this realm transition by Family Isnar. The main House Twainborn settlement should be located in the forests to the west along a smaller river flowing into the great Mississip. I was sent to scout east for other potential sites and to gather information before finding the new settlement, but have been much delayed. The local indigs are stubborn brutes."

A snicker escaped her, bubbling out in that same Svart gurgle laugh as Shondrub had. "House Twainborn, is it?"

He smoothed down his robe before answering. "Named for the large forest to the west, yes. The new realm brings great opportunity to all."

"Well, to some more than others I'm sure. I have not heard of House Twainborn, no doubt an oversight on the part of my supervisors, but Family Isnar is friendly with Family Atlag. To an extent. Your guards appear to bear the local weaponry."

At the last statement, her almost singsong mockery shifted abruptly into a sharp accusation.

He answered in the same smooth calmness as before. "Yes, local indigs that I found to be less stubborn than most. They make for adequate guards. My own party was much, ah, truncated after several less than amicable encounters with some of the more, ah, savage local groups."

"Hmm. No doubt an unfortunate accident on the part of House Twainborn to send you into that. These ones are civilized?"

"They have accepted and will adhere to Unity law, Gatekeeper. Of course."

Her chin came up as she gazed at the small bunch at the top of the slope, then back down at him.

"Of course. Well, bring them down and come inside. I will provide you with a Marker for age. For two days only, mind you. Open the gate!" This last was snapped down at someone behind her.

Holding his relief within the Stillness, Kole turned and waved twice, paused, and then waved three more times at his band. They started down immediately after his completed signal, and he faced back around to find two glum looking Tegma hauling back on the leaves of the palisade gate.

The Svart pattered down a set of steps to his right. "Come, come, I don't have all day to spend on the great House Twainborn." Another snicker came out.

She held a small device up to what looked to be a plain wooden token, which

flashed with momentary color as she handed it to him. "The effect will fade in two days, as I said. So don't spend too much time in here trading. There's another gate to the west, which should be open soon for the day, so you don't have to come back past me."

With a last look at him and the other five walking up with carefully blank faces, she sniffed and then started back up the steps. "Best of luck."

Kole offered a short bow to her retreating back, then waved the others through the gate and started walking deeper in. The Tegma watched them hopefully for a few more moments, waiting for any sort of combat action, but then went back to standing guard.

There was a cleared area just inside the wall for as far around the curve as Kole could see, but shortly within that boundary an eclectic collection of tents and shacks and even a few new looking full structures covered most of the ground. They proceeded down the wide dirt avenue that seemed to bisect the trading post.

His group stayed quiet while inside, as ordered.

It was still early, but a few humans and Svart and others and one or two Nidavell were already moving about their own business. Some attempted to call out various types of wares to the ing band. Kole listened but ignored the offers given. He also scanned across the many signs posted, of varied quality but mostly just clapped together, on buildings and tents and in stacked collections on posts at every side path and street.

At the center of the trading post a few hundred feet in they ed through an open square surrounded by more carefully finished structures. He noted the Shield defenses worked into new stone on the line of buildings along the north of the square, but moved on through. They crossed over the narrow pavement of an old county road just after, now encapsulated within the trading post and serving as a north-south boulevard.

Within sight of another gate to the west, standing open with Tegma guards, he found what he sought.

"Come," he spoke, still in Standard, and motioned them down a narrow dirt path between tents. They came to one broad pavilion a dozen strides or so to the south that bore a sign identical to that posted at the corner stack. 'Indig Arms' in blocky Standard rune-characters.

The sign on the tent was surrounded by further decoration. A pair of muscled arms were painted on the tent to look like they were growing from the sign, with the hands each holding a pistol. A collection of gun themed bumper stickers were also pasted every which way around the main sign and the painted arms.

Brushing through the hanging fabric that served as a door for the pavilion, they were greeted by the sound of snoring, then a bell ringing above their heads, then a grunted "Coming, coming," from the back of the tent.

A gnarled looking figured trotted up to them, swinging around a corner of the tall shelves that took up most of the space in the interior and were piled with all sorts of material. Kole could see weapons, ammo, cleaning supplies, targets, and more. Aside from what appeared to be the looted inventory of several gun-shops, all piled haphazardly on the mismatched shelves, there were knives and sledgehammers and axes and other tools and even a few swords.

"Welcome, welcome, to Indig Arms!"

The figure stopped before them with spread arms itself, beaming at them. It, he apparently, was just under five feet tall and seemed to Kole to be some species other than a human variant. Probably. The arm-span being displayed was half again as wide as a human of that height would show and the knees appeared to be reverse ted. He was wearing blue jeans, modified somewhat, and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves from a blue flannel shirt sewn on to extend their length to the end of his arms.

"I am Qualmere, your proprietor, and what is your desire? Buy, sell, or trade?"

Kole offered a short bow as he stood mostly in front of the others. Tammy was just off to his left and drifting slowly forward, but he saw Sheri's arm grab her to pull her back.

"Friend Qualmere, we are in haste and have not long to peruse your fine collection of wares. We require replenished ammunition for indigenous weapons and also that weapon," he pointed at a newer looking AK sticking off one of the shelves with a short glance over at Tom on his right, who was standing there pointing at it with both hands as he looked at Kole and arched his brows. "Along with some ammunition for it. We will pay in silver bullion."

The odd figure seemed to ignore the byplay as it brought its hands in to rub them together. "Of course, of course, that's what we're here for."

It then broke into motion, shuffling around the shelves to grab boxes of ammo to present to Kole. "What kinds? This? No. This? No. This? Ah, yes." That continued until they had small piles of adequate ammo for each of the party weapons and for the new AK, which the proprietor simply handed to Tom, all stacked on a folding table produced from behind one of the shelves.

"And the form of your bullion?"

Kole arched a brow over at Tom, and at the nod placed a stack of five silver bars, one ounce American standard, on the small table.

"Yes, yes, local manufacture, good quality…" Qualmere produced a small crystal from one pocket, which he held each bar up to until it issued a chiming sound.

Kole felt a tiny surge in Shard-draw just before the chime rang. There were a few other small constant draws around the tent but nothing that seemed dangerous.

"Excellent. Let's say…ten more of these and we have a deal. I know, I know, but silver was popular with the indigs too, as you well know, and there is plenty of it around. Fifteen and done, can't let it all go for less."

Kole looked at the salesman for a long moment, then produced two more stacks of five bars from other pockets on the robe he wore. Still unspeaking, be waited for the figure to check each new bar and then motioned the others forward to take their share.

Tammy darted in to grab her two boxes of nine millimeter luger before standing to twitch a bit more as she gazed around at all of the other goods. The others moved more sedately, but shortly they were all loaded up and moving back out of the tent.

The proprietor followed them out a little ways, offering a parting speech. "Come back soon, plenty more where that came from, only the best at Indig Arms. They're not just collectibles you know, so give those indigs back some of their own!"

The words trailed off behind them as Kole swept back to the main street and toward the gate. He was rather glad that none of the others understood much of the Standard speech and the moderately insulting shop theme, but just wanted to get them all out of the post without incident. He flashed his token at the gate as they ed more bored looking Tegma with a male Svart peering down from above.

They walked on, back up to I-64 and down about a half-mile before slipping together behind an abandoned tour bus with mostly busted windows.

Clayton broke the silence excitedly. "Did you see all those? Orcs and dwarves and goblins and a goat-man and everything. I saw one thing in a dress looked like a snake with legs!"

Sheri just let out a groan, already slumped down on the grass holding her head down between her knees, pack beside her.

Kole looked over at the bearded man with the long ragged looking hair from

where he leaned against the bus.

"Once again, Clayton. Tegma are not orcs. Svart and Nidavell are not goblins and dwarves. They each have their own species names and so too does that person with reptilian ancestry."

Kole accepted his own pack from Charlie with a nod and began to dig out the hiking clothes. The others were smiling wryly a bit at Clayton's insistence but mostly just starting to load magazines.

"And just so everyone else knows I think that went pretty well. The first Svart at the gate would have been looking down her nose at us if she had one and no one else paid us much attention."

Clayton kicked at the ground a bit before plopping down to pull the shotgun from his pack. The war hammer pushed through his belt, another Coldower special, got hitched smoothly out of the way as he sat.

"I still say the names we already got work just fine. And they sound better. Who ever heard of a Svart, anyway? Sounds like a fart. Or a Nidamell? Dumb names and we already got better ones…" The grumbling faded in volume until he was just muttering under his breath while he loaded shells. The others had heard it all before and ignored him.

Tammy piped up as soon as Clayton's volume got low. "I don't see why I couldn't do some shopping. Or just grab a few things while he was busy. It was just him in there and it's not like they have alarms or cameras or anything. Did you see all the stuff he had?"

Charlie spoke quietly from where he bent over fiddling with his hunting rifle, in his slight Texas drawl. "I saw at least one other, smaller like a child and lying down on top of a shelf in the corner. It was very still, but watching us. There may have been more." Cheri and Tom both nodded as he spoke.

Tammy looked to take offense at this, in some way, so Kole broke in from where he was buttoning his shirt up.

"Besides which, theft is breaking Unity law. Which is a big deal. They don't have much in the way of police so whoever sees you break the law can just kill you or capture you themselves. Think Wild West meets Ancient Rome. The Vanyr and some of the Svart and Nidavell will also have devices that tell them if someone is lying, so you can't just pretend innocence.

"Lawbreakers get attacked, maybe killed, which can sometimes escalate into general violence and a lot of people can end up dying. So people tend to be very careful not to break Unity law and very fierce with others who do."

By the end of this he was fully dressed and everyone was waiting as he slung the pack on and checked his gear load. "Don't be too sure about alarms, either. Shard-tech has almost limitless possible variation, like that little bullion detector crystal he had or the chime when we came in."

"Have their own way of defining theft, don't they?" Tom muttered mostly to himself as they started out again, still iring his new weapon. That Kole could see had bits of the factory packing grease yet to be wiped off.

They moved out, Tammy beside Kole to get another word in. "And you paid way too much for that stuff we got. Which could have been better stuff too. Goatguy's eyes about popped out of his bald goat head when you just paid him what he asked."

"I didn't want to haggle, Tammy." He smiled but focused on other senses as they walked. In the Stillness he could feel the markers continue to fade behind them, highlighted by the bright throb of the six energy cannons.

"We got in and out fast and got reloaded. We brought the silver just for incidentals anyway and there are still ten more ounces for the trip back."

She shook her head at him but didn't say anything else, drifting away a bit as they walked along the highway and wove through the abandoned vehicles that had been steadily thickening as they approached the city. They still had another day or so to the river but the urban sprawl was coming up fast.

He let his mind drift back over the trip as they walked, relaxed into a routine that had seen them through the mostly boring journey.

Boring most of the time, which was good, but not for all of it.

He still felt grief when he thought about Cincinnati and all the dead there. Louisville had been bad as well, but he couldn't shake the sadness that rose in him when he thought about those emaciated figures on the bridge above as they ed downtown Cincy, waving desperately for help, for anything. Which he hadn't given. He might have known some of them, in his other life before the transition.

There'd been other places on the trip with similar scenes, the pathetic and the violent both just two expressions of sheer need, but those cities stood out for scale. His cities, under the Unity, or at least his claims. His path was for the best, he knew that—or at least hoped it to be true.

But his path would not help the masses suffering and dying now, and might all be for nothing anyway if he failed.

He walked on, surrounded by companions yet alone with his thoughts.

They moved along. Always easier to follow the roads instead of going cross country. Unless they had to move around a roadblock, deliberate or accidental.

That day was mostly quiet. They ed suburbs and bunches of housing extended along what had been the easy corridor of the interstate highway. He had to flash his several times.

The marked piece of wood lit up briefly from what he could feel was a set charge placed into a tiny embedded crystal, rather than a draw directly from a Shard. It would stop working whenever the charge ran out, should that occur before two days were up or after. That young woman had been slack for a Svart in an official Family position, but this was adequate to their needs.

They got down off of what had become an elevated highway at a convenient exit near the Mississippi. The Gateway Arch was still standing and visible across the water in the fading light of oncoming twilight.

The area nearby appeared largely deserted from what they could see, so they found an empty house and disappeared within for the night.

This house must have been unused for a while, Kole reflected as he laid out his gear in one corner of the living room. They had carefully blocked off all of the windows before lighting a candle for some dim illumination. Hardly any smell at all.

Clayton was already snoring stretched out on the couch while Tom sat watch by a window and Sheri and Tammy hunted through the rest of the house looking for goods or surprises. Charlie had claimed a recliner sitting beside the couch and had his eyes closed. They had moved the TV away from the window so Tom could use its table to sit on.

The women came back mostly empty handed after a few minutes, so the place had been picked through already. He spotted what looked like a bottle of tequila sticking out of a pocket on Tammy's pack but didn't say anything. Not my problem anymore.

"Wake him up," he muttered to Sheri, waving the others over to him as the snores cut off and Clayton and Sheri walked across the room to the rest. Tammy slumped down against the wall beside his gear but the others all stood by.

"Tomorrow we leave here separately." He spoke quietly but kept a serious face as he looked them each in the eyes in turn.

"You all get to find your own way back. The river for a while if you can find a boat, but hike south at least half a day first. I'll make my way across the river to catch my ride. Sheri's in charge, but if she buys it it's Charlie, and then Tom."

He looked between the two not named, ending the speech with an amused tone. "I figure that if it gets down to just you two then you should go ahead and kill each other and get it over with. Or something."

Sheri snorted out some laughter at that very last bit, looking away with a smile on her face. Tom and Charlie smiled a bit as well, while Tammy and Clayton both scowled at Kole and then at each other.

He broke that up by speaking again, just a bit louder. "My stuff here is yours; all I need is my clothes after this. And a couple more things. Sheri gets the silver for now unless she has someone else carry it. Tammy, you get the pistol because I know you want another one. Charlie gets the nice pack because he deserves it for getting us here." He gave them each a smile as he spoke his few bequests.

"You can all divy up the rest after I head out in the morning. But for now," he stood briefly before moving around the gear pile and sitting back down in front of Tammy, "I promised that you could do my makeup for me. Nothing too deep but make it good."

She grinned wide at him and pulled out her big knife. Sheri sat down beside them with a first-aid kit already open, a faint disapproving frown on her face as the other three men each resumed their previous positions. Tom was chuckling quietly but toned it down to just a smile as he watched from near the big window.

Still grinning, Tammy tilted her head from side to side to look at first the knife and then her clenched left fist before socking him right in the eye with her fist, not too hard but enough to mark. She giggled some as his head rocked back before he looked at her again with a resigned expression.

He let her work, folding himself into the Stillness as she used the knife a bit around his head and chest, slowly and carefully carving in a few believable wounds. Sheri mopped up the blood from each cut but let Tammy quickly debride some of them to blur the edges, using a green scrubber pad from the kitchen, before sanitizing the cuts and bandaging him up. They made sure to get some blood on his clothes, but not too much.

Sheri finished up with a wrap around his head that would still let him see and be mostly covered by his hat. Tammy finished up with some kicks to his ribs and legs for bruises.

Rubbing himself gingerly after that treatment, Kole waved off Sheri who wanted to look at his ribs.

"Thank you both. Tammy, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It'll give me something to you by. Sheri, much appreciated. Now I just want some aspirin and some sleep."

There was some pain, but he slept pretty well that night, with no watch for the first time since the trip began. Tomorrow would be busy and he needed the rest.

Sheri woke him in the grey light before dawn.

They each came up to shake his hand before he left, but no one said anything except for a murmured "good luck" from Tom. Kole took a last drink from his old flask and then slipped out the back door.

Getting back up on the elevated highway, he took the long crossing over the I-55 bridge. The bridge itself had been cleared of vehicles somehow but there were no checkpoints or anything else, at least not at that hour.

There was just the faintest hint of pink to the east, but in the dawn light he could make out his destination by hanging over the guard rail on the far south lane, using a pair of binos that he had saved back for now.

The Vanyr outpost had crystal lights illuminating their main building, including a set framing the Family Liseli emblem, a light blue field with a simple curved geometric device in black, like three short spirals all starting at a single point but moving out in different directions.

Beautiful, he thought as he surveyed the building, so nice when a plan comes together. He jogged across quickly then, having to exit down and then around to get down to street level but then backtracking to the river bank. There still seemed to be no one around.

Moving south close to the bank, where he paused briefly to splash some river water on his bandages, he swung wide upon nearing the compound established by the Liseli for their venture.

Finding a convenient building back behind and to one side, deserted, he got up to the roof and then settled down to wait. It was a long day and a boring one.

He stayed under a makeshift cover and watched the compound. There was nothing to eat or drink and only the watching to keep him busy. Alternating between the binos and plain sight, he amused himself by naming each of the Tegma and other figures glimpsed. Tegma and Svart and some apparently local humans being used as slave labor. A few Vanyr.

There was a Shard present in the compound that morning, red like his own. During the day as he lay there and watched, the female Vanyr wielding it and two other Vanyr, both male, boarded a riverboat obviously of Center manufacture.

The lines were strange to his eyes. It seemed a shallow craft, maybe sixty feet and mostly open decked but with an enclosed cabin at the front and all painted in Liseli colors, that light blue trimmed in black. The three Vanyr were ed by a large group of Tegma and two Svart before the Vanyr and one Svart entered the cabin and the craft moved downriver until lost to his sight. He could feel the pulse of the Shard very strongly, but also some draw from the craft as it moved.

Kole had spotted his best way in after just a few minutes of watching, but formed a few alternative plans as the day went on. That night he waited until things were quiet and then slipped from his rough shelter, leaving the binos underneath, and moved toward the rear of the compound.

As expected, it was not difficult to find a way. While the compound was well garrisoned it was lightly guarded against anyone trying to sneak in. They had put fencing and some walls around the landward side but there were many breaks.

In his Stillness, he could feel each battle-orb and the Tegma oath-bound to them, as he could feel and mostly identify every other Shard-draw within the compound. Between patrols in the rear area he made his careful way up to the back of the long building at the center of the impromptu compound.

He was able to scale the back wall of the building at the rear corner using power conduits, though he lost a bit more skin in the process. The pain was distant in the Stillness but noted, as was his sense of urgency in the clear night.

Perched there up out of normal sight lines and thinking invisible thoughts, he managed to undo the cover for a large ventilation fan that he then eeled slowly through, drawing the cover closed behind him with the faintest scrape.

After kissing his multi-tool in the faint blue light within, he set it down gently, along with the cover fasteners, out of the way on the small platform near the roof on the inside of the building.

A now quiet HVAC unit took up most of of the space on the platform, but there was enough room for him to stretch out flat. By design, the riverside warehouse could be kept open or be closed up, depending on weather. The big fan that he used to gain entry would move air in or push it out during mild weather, while the enclosed HVAC unit beside it took more power but was better for extreme cold or heat.

He had seen the type before and hoped it would be like this from the way it looked on the outside. So far his luck was holding. He lay there for long minutes without moving after getting in, listening.

There wasn't a lot of noise, but a steady murmur of voices and other occasional sounds continued while he listened. After a time he eased back around to secure the cover on the fan, using just a few of the fasteners. Then he ever so slowly made his way to the edge of the platform, right up against the side wall, to peek over.

What he saw down there filled him with disgust, hundreds of people living in cages, but he let that die within the Stillness and watched everything, learning and waiting.

Many of the cages had ten or twenty people in them, but the one right beneath him was empty and so were a few more. And some of them seemed to hold only a few people. In the Stillness he could feel the Shard-draws of the lights and other things, including one on the door of each cage that was probably a lock of some sort.

He stayed there, watching and waiting and making possible plans. He could just try to go in now but a better moment might come.

Twelve

Family Liseli collection point St. Louis.Sometime before midnight.

Carmen sat against the back of the cage with her knees drawn up to her chest, half-watching for something to happen but mostly just waiting. Maybe she would sleep some more soon but there was plenty of time to sleep.

Now that she had her own cage—her and Manuel, but he was ok. Weeks and weeks waiting in the cage and plenty of time to sleep.

They were all in the same big warehouse down by the river that the small caravan had circled back to after moving through the city to collect people. Not very many that time, just her and Manuel and three others living.

Most people they just killed, but she thought the ones that fought back really hard got put in the cages, if they lived. Some had died in the wagon cages, like Charles, but they took the bodies away when they got to the warehouse.

That first day they all got put into this bigger cage, one of many along one side of the open interior. She was still too numb to move then and for a little while later. They just got her up to it and cut the ropes and tossed her in. Manuel too, but he got hit on the head during the fighting and was pretty groggy at first.

The other three were some kind of gangers. Anyway they were young and had tattoos and acted real big. They tried to talk to her but she just said to piss off and ignored them. She just sat at the back, right where she was now, and said nothing.

But she didn't sleep that night. She could tell what they were thinking, they just weren't brave enough to try it yet if she was gonna fight.

During the next day she got a little sleep but not much. There was usually something going on in the warehouse and the gray soldiers broke up some fights in other cages. That night she was groggy and had drifted off when they tried to take her.

She felt the hands grab both of her arms and snapped awake.

Screaming out, "Assholes!" she twisted to one side and used her feet to push herself up, felt the back of her head smash into one of their faces and the hands on that side fall away.

The other one tried to lift her but she kicked out with both feet and got his leg. He called her a bitch and dropped her and kicked her in the side, hard, but she didn't feel it then.

She jumped to her feet just as number three tried to come up in front and grab her in a hug, but she got a knee up in his crotch and he fell over backward and started to puke. The other two looked pissed and she thought they would come back in together, but Manuel loomed up behind the one with the bloody nose and reached up with those big hands and just twisted his head around backwards.

She screamed again, "Beasts!" and flew at the other one with a head butt because his hands were down low and then got him in the crotch too and then didn't stop kicking him until he was dead. Manuel took care of the third one.

They stacked the bodies in the front of the cage by the door. The guards must have been busy when it happened because they didn't come by until morning, when they took them away along with the old poop bucket when they brought the breakfast slop. Not the guards, they never worked much, but some people wearing mismatched clothes that never looked up and just did the work.

That night she slumped back against the cage while the big Mexicano went back to his corner. Then she spoke, "I'm Carmen, Carmen Rivia."

"Manuel Orozco."

That was all. They didn't need to talk.

She still didn't sleep after that for hours, at first because she was still shaking and then because she hurt too much from the fight. But she got to sleep before the food came, even with the smell of poop and blood and puke. After crying some more.

Now she just sat and watched, waiting to see what would happen next. They kept bringing more people, more fighters, and putting them in cages. Just a few at a time but most of the cages had people in them now and a lot were getting pretty full.

Some of them came off of boats in the river. She could see the water when they had one of the big doors open.

Some of the prisoners died or were killed and they just took them away. Sometimes people tried to break out or jump the guards but that never worked. The cages were too strong and there were plenty of guards when they had a cage open.

Every few days they brought around a hose and sprayed out the cages before breakfast, so she kinda got a shower that way. Her clothes were bad but she didn't really smell them anymore, or herself.

She never talked, just listened. People would talk about anything when they were bored enough but it didn't help anything. Like the funny locks. Some of the prisoners talked about them but no one could figure them out.

Every time they opened a cage, one of the little frog aliens that was with the gray soldiers sometimes would touch a finger to the lock and it would open. And then hop behind the soldiers quick. Touch it again and it would latch. Just touch it, but nothing happened when someone else reached a hand through to touch it or whatever. They were just funny locks, the aliens had a lot of weird stuff, but people would talk on and on about them while she listened because there was nothing else to do.

The lights were funny too, they got some talk but not as much. They were just stuck to the walls, no wires or anything. No one ever touched them but they could get really bright or dim like they were now and mostly were at night. Sometimes they changed colors. Just then they were dim and the light was a kind

of blue so colors were a bit different that she could see.

The big door across from her cage opened. They were bringing in more people from the river like sometimes they did at night. A big group, maybe ten or eleven roped up people. Some gray soldiers from the boat brought them up to the cage in the corner, the one right next to hers, and dumped them on the ground and just stood around. The lights stayed dim and blue. Then some of the guards came. They looked the same as the other gray soldiers, mostly, but they had one of the little frogs with them.

This one looked really tired, just touched the lock and grumbled some words at the soldiers and slumped against the cage with its eyes closed while they cut ropes and tossed people in. Then some worker people came up with a poop bucket and took all the ropes. The soldiers closed the cage, but one had to shake the frog to wake it up, who touched the lock and snapped some more words and they all left together and closed the big door again.

She watched the new group a little, sideways, but they all looked pretty beat and went to sleep quick after looking around a little, the ones awake in the first place.

A little while later she was still sitting there watching when someone dropped down from the wall in the corner. She caught the movement out the side of her eye and turned her head, slow and just a little, to see better. She let her eyes fall almost closed and held very still.

A man in beat up clothes was crouched down in the corner, looking around with his head cocked to one side. His gaze moved past her without stopping, once and then again.

Then he stood and walked toward the front of the cage in the corner, keeping close to the wall. He moved like he was dancing, one foot in front of the other and no sound at all.

He had real short hair, it looked black to her but there was some dirty cloth like a bandage wrapped around part of it, with a stubble beard, and was kind of skinny but tall.

Without stopping he slid around to the front of the cage, touched the lock, opened the door just enough, and slid inside. He reached through to touch the lock again and then dropped down onto his side in an open space and curled up facing away from her, lying there unmoving. He was down looking like another sleeping prisoner maybe ten seconds after rising from his crouch in the corner.

Carmen blinked and just looked at him for a minute.

Then turned her head, slow and just a bit, to look around the warehouse. No changes. She thought there was a table where some guards sat at the far end, but it was a big building and she couldn't really see that far in the dim nightlights. Maybe they all left with the frog. There had been a little sound from the cage door but it was soft.

Nothing happened.

She looked back at the still form, the graceful man that just snuck into maybe the worst place she had ever been, then tried to relax. She could feel her heart

beating faster but didn't move.

He can open the locks.

But he didn't want out, not right now, he just snuck in. Maybe later, she didn't know, and it wasn't her that could open the locks anyway. She had tried once. Maybe he was with that group and would get them out. Maybe her and Manuel could go along.

She got to sleep about an hour later when nothing else changed. Her eyes opened again when they started spraying cages before breakfast.

After shower time she kept watch on the other cage, staying quiet but watching everything. The new cage was quiet at first, like most new groups in here, but from what she heard she thought a lot of them didn't even know each other. And none of them knew the new guy, but he just grunted and asked a question of two like he got thrown in there like they did and they let it go.

Nothing much happened and so she kept waiting.

Maybe a week later the warehouse doors all got pulled open and there was a big boat out on the river. Then a whole bunch of gray soldiers came in the warehouse until she thought that there were more of them than there were prisoners.

It was hard to see everything but there were elves, too, more than she had ever

seen at once.

They started getting people on the boat, from the far end cage first. It looked like they were just walking on quietly but with gray soldiers around every bunch. There was talking before, but it wasn't until maybe halfway down the cages that she could hear it.

One of the frogs was giving a speech to each cage before they opened it and the prisoners came out.

It all started to blur together because she was freaking out about leaving her cage and her skin was crawling and she didn't know what was happening, but when they got to her cage she listened, staring intently at the frog talking at the two of them. The little frog just stood there a little stiff and then opened its arms and began the same talk again.

"Congratulations, survivors and warriors of the Terran Realm." A pause. "That means you."

Another pause. "You are prisoners of Family Liseli, but you have a chance to regain your freedom and even more. You may choose to be inducted into the Hundred Battles, where you will have a chance to prove that you are better than your conquerors, even to win your freedom and wealth and more."

Pause. "I, as a legal representative of the Center of Unity, hereby offer you this choice. You may come with us willingly in order to fight in the Hundred Battles and perhaps to win your freedom, or you may refuse and attempt to fight us now and try to win free."

Pause again. "On a more personal note, I must warn you that we will not be gentle if you choose to fight now. You will likely die. Come with us now, and you will have a chance to fight later. To fight, and to be free again. Later."

After that the frog just stared at them a little as the two of them stared back at it, then touched the lock on the cage and hopped back. Some gray soldiers came in the cage and waited a little, and Manuel looked over at her and she looked back…and then she stood up and walked forward and Manuel followed her.

They got on the big boat with the others.

Part 3

Thirteen

He stood on another world.

Kole looked around and wondered again if this was really the brilliant idea it had seemed when he was safe in the Keep and making plans.

Several thousand mostly confused humans stood and waited to see what would happen next, surrounded and formed into blocks by maybe twice their number of Tegma. He couldn't see everyone to get a count, but knew that there should be exactly five thousand humans from Earth gathered here.

They were all crowded into one corner of a large square compound, maybe a mile on a side and surrounded by a high wall but otherwise open to the sky.

Which wasn't that different than the sky of earth. The sun looked smaller than it should be and the color was different, just as the mostly clear sky was the wrong shade of blue and the clouds all seemed to have odd highlights in them.

It was chill here, though he didn't know if that was normal for the world or just the season. Colors everywhere under this new sun were a bit off, but the dirt of the compound was covered in what looked like grass and had a sprinkling of what looked like bushes and a few odd trees.

In his Stillness, where even here he could feel his distant Shard, the great walls thrummed with a full Shield. He let that awareness recede from his mind, let his Stillness grow distant like the Shard, the better to blend in.

Things had gone pretty smoothly after he managed to sneak into the collection point at St. Louis. The Vanyr preferred to use water transport where possible and had moved them upriver to Chicago through the river locks taken over by the Atlag. Their boat had floated there on Lake Michigan for a few days, but was eventually ed by other vessels carrying what he thought was the majority of the humans present here.

Other than that it was mostly just barely adequate accommodations and constant surveillance by Tegma. Though getting Bridged over here stood out in his memory.

They had been taken off the boats and put into a big park near the water. There were skyscrapers nearby, mostly to the north but a few on the other side also. One circular area of ground had been sectioned off with short stone pillars and also coated in the white stone often used for Shard-tech.

They were moved in to the circle, big enough for hundreds of people at once, before he felt the pulsating force of a torrent of Shard power flow into the pillars and the stone beneath them.

Then there was a strobing flash of light, going through all colors of the spectrum, and they were in another place. One with several of the same stone circles in a cluster and all surrounded by walls. The sky there, which he thought must be the Realm Solve, had been green instead of blue.

They were immediately herded over to another circle and ed through several more Realms, he lost track of how many, to arrive in this realm. Realm Horefell, where the Hundred Battles took place.

After that it was a walk of miles to this compound, out of the walled Bridge area and through an urbanized area for the first bit. Perhaps it had been the series of Bridges, but he was disoriented at first and had not picked up on much in the city they ed through. Surrounded by the Tegma it was difficult to see very much anyway. Just strange architecture and crowds of people of various species and a babble of noise and sounds.

There did seem to be some poverty and want. They had ed by several stinking alleyways that functioned as packed in living areas for groups or families of people. Some of the housing buildings were not much better.

The march through open country was clearer in his memory. Farms dotted the land in a band around the city, mostly worked by muscle but he spotted a few pieces of Shard-driven equipment and could feel more. Blue-wheat seemed to be a popular crop, though the blue color was less pronounced under this sun.

After the farms they could see a curved line of these same great walled compounds, surrounded by a paved ring road. They turned right and walked past two of the compounds before entering the third.

In the distance within the arc of compounds he could see another wall, even taller and looming up in a vast curve. The battle arena.

All that took what seemed like half the day. Fitting then that this sun was just

now right overhead. His contingent of humans, Bridged through in batches and marched here in a long line, was apparently the last to arrive.

They had just gotten sorted into these blocks like the smaller bunches that were here before them. Judging by appearances alone, physical characteristics and clothing, there were contingents of several hundred people each from different parts of Earth.

It looked like the Liseli had finally gotten things settled out how they wanted. They were all in sort of an arc around the corner of the compound, facing a stone speaking platform set out from the slightly rounded corner of the interior of the wall. A self-important looking group of Vanyr and Svart and one Nidavell would shortly walk past his block on the way to the platform.

Time for another gamble, he thought.

He had kept mostly silent with the other humans up to this point, just projecting a calm and collected demeanor. The other Terrans were making a little noise but not much. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen and the Tegma had actively discouraged loud behavior.

Turning around from his position at the front of the block, he spoke in clear English. "I know this might look strange but I'm trying to help. I have a plan. If it works then most of us should live through this. Wish me luck."

A young Latina-looking woman a little ways back caught his eye as he spoke. He had seen her before and noted her, always with the same hulking Hispaniclooking man. There were not many women among them so she was easy to

. She wasn't physically imposing like most of the others but did seem to have a certain fire about her.

He turned back around without waiting for a response, immediately calling out in Standard to the Vanyr man at the front of the small group just coming abreast. "Honor to Family Liseli. Emissary of the Liseli, I would speak with you. The Terrans must perform well in the Hundred Battles."

Kole could feel that none of this group were Shard-bearers, who tended to be haughtier than the rest, but still waited nervously for the response to his gambit.

The lead Vanyr paused, still facing forward, as the small group halted behind him. There were three other Vanyr, two of them female, each with a Svart behind them. The Nidavell, beard and hair both a very curly dirty blond color over a pale white face, brought up the rear.

Kole watched a look of concern flash across the face of the one in front, subtle like all the natural expressions he had learned from Eldora, before the Vanyr turned to face the block and drifted forward.

"Are you a human of the Center captured by mistake? If so you should have spoken up before now. We have bid in a group of wild humans, all indigenous to the new Realm Terra." He parted the Tegma with a gesture as he spoke and motioned Kole forward to stand before him.

"No, Emissary. I am a native of that Realm. I gained the Standard tongue and some knowledge of Center history just before the realm transition, but fought on until capture by the Liseli."

Kole offered a bow. "I mean no trouble for your Family. Quite the opposite. I have seen the advantages of Center civilization and wish for humans to perform as well as possible in this rendition of the Hundred Battles, that we might gain in status within the Center. If the humans fight well then Family Liseli will profit greatly."

He focused on the reactions of the head Vanyr, the Emissary, as he spoke, but could also clearly see the others in the group as they spread slightly to watch him. The Svart all looked somewhat outraged, while two of the Vanyr seemed somewhat taken aback. The third, the woman walking close behind the head Vanyr, gave no expression at all.

The Nidavell in back of them all had a wry look on his face and seemed amused. Behind Kole and the Tegma now between them, Kole heard rustling and muttering from the other humans but nothing overt.

The Vanyr, half a head taller than Kole and thinly built, seemed to be disconcerted at the sudden event. He ran a hand down the side of his robe, Liseli powder blue trimmed in black, and brushed back the still expressionless woman behind him without speaking as she put a hand out. He turned his gaze to look across the blocks of humans all peering through Tegma to watch them.

"You and you," he pointed at two of the Tegma, "bring him." With this he resumed his self-important expression and continued his progress toward the stage.

Kole moved willingly between the grey brutes at the back of the small group, which hurried only momentarily to catch up with their leader as they all

followed along.

They all mounted the platform, where the Vanyr Emissary seemed to have collected himself. He motioned the Tegma with Kole to the back and one side and spoke sharply to one of the Svart. "Begin the address."

He then waved the other Svart and two of the Vanyr into places along the front of the platform before bringing the woman with the still expressionless face over to Kole, facing them all mostly away from the crowd.

With this the first Svart, a female, keyed a device hanging on her collar and immediately launched into an amplified speech in English. Her high sharp voice pierced out and was further boosted by the shape of the smooth walls.

"Humans of Terra! The realm transition was very harsh but you, survivors and fighters, now have a great opportunity! The Hundred Battles is a glorious competition…"

After catching the first bit of what already promised to be a long and bombastic explanatory speech, as five thousand humans stood hungry and thirsty and cold under an alien sky while surrounded by the grey shapes of the Tegma, Kole focused back on the Vanyr speaking to him.

"It seems an unlikely tale…what is your name?"

Kole carefully maintained a respectful pattern, though mentally he contrasted his

own demeanor with the condescending superiority offered by the Vanyr. "I am called Smith, Emissary."

"Very well. Smith. You may address me as Emissary, which is my formal position as liaison for the Terran competitors, or Lord Ainat. This is my aide, Steward Yleissa. Now, just how did this unlikely circumstance come about?"

Kole gave his readied story, which he had prepared through in his mind until it was real to him. It could have been if things had gone another way.

"I was detained by the retainers of a Vanyr lord the day before the realm transition, Lord Ainat. I know not to what House or great Family he belonged. He wished to speak with me and so had them place a device on my head which imparted the Standard tongue and other things. It happened very fast and the pain was great. There was an attack by other Terrans as he waited for me to recover; in the confusion I managed to run away."

"Hmmm…" Ainat looked over at the Nidavell standing calmly nearby. The speech droned on in the background of their own conversation. "Is that possible, Gariath? Usually knowledge takes longer to impart, and only one thing at a time…?"

The Nidavell grunted out in a low baritone voice. "Yes. Quite possible. It's one of the settings on a standard imbuement device, though not often used. It can be any type of knowledge. Language or history or whatever. A technical procedure to group it, but not difficult. For an expert. Speed of imbuement is also a variable."

"And the disability?"

Kole got eyed by a dark yellow gaze almost the same blonde shade as the curly hair of the stout figure. "Unusual, but possible, Lord. Depends on the person. It is much more common with the faster imbuement."

Ainat seemed about to speak again, still looking undecided, but was interrupted by the aide. Yleissa placed a hand on his arm and looked at Kole steadily as she asked, "What colors did they wear, Smith? Blue with black, like myself and Lord Ainat? Or other colors? You see how we style ourselves with the main color and the trim?"

Those cat-gem eyes glittered at him, waiting for his answer. Ainat's were a deep red, almost brown, with little of the sparkle that most Vanyr eyes gave off, but hers were a bright ruby color.

Kole bowed his head to her briefly while answering. "Red and black, Steward Yleissa. I saw the same colors again several times, while fighting and especially around the Bridge at Chicago. Though I do not know the name of the Family that now holds that city."

Breaking back in, Ainat asked in a hesitant voice, "The same shade of dark red? You are certain? The day before the transition?"

"The very same shade, Emissary. The day before human technology mostly stopped working, though there was some local disruption effect near where I was first captured."

The two Vanyr exchanged a long silent look, before Ainat turned back and spoke to Kole. Still haughtily. "Well, that is none of our business really. You are. I think this whole thing is rather convenient for our endeavor here. We are not permitted to imbue knowledge into the participants in the Battles, so I was going to have to do everything through translators. But now you can speak to me directly. Perhaps I will make you our main with the Terrans."

Kole bowed slightly before speaking. "More convenient than you yet know, honored Emissary. I have some military knowledge of the Center, including a full understanding of the tradition of the Hundred Battles.

"Separate from this, but of crucial importance for your purposes, I am also a student of the military history of Terra. I have spent much time considering the matter and propose myself to lead the Terran efforts in the battles to come."

Those eyes narrowed at him, both the muddy red and the bright ruby. "You understand the restrictions, then? You are experienced in leadership and battle?" Ainat spoke slowly, measuring both Kole and his own words.

"I know and understand the restrictions on both the participants and the sponsoring Family, Emissary. I am a leader of my people and have fought in battle."

"You also know how it will end, when—if the Terrans lose a battle?"

Kole ignored the slip, saying only, "I do," in the same voice, calm and confidant

and respectful.

"If all that is so—Gariath, bring a Verifier." The Vanyr lord gestured sharply at the Nidavell, before exchanging a speculative look with Yleissa.

The stout figure muttered, "Yes, lord," before bringing a metallic looking strip out of one of the pouches on his belt. He strode over to Kole and reached out without ceremony to slap the strip onto Kole's wrist. It seemed to flow into itself as that happened, forming a bracelet that began to glow with a blue light.

The Emissary squared himself in front of Kole and held a hand up. He spoke formally. Meanwhile, the Steward behind him kept her eyes on the blue glow from the bracelet.

"The device placed on your person is a Verifier of the Unity. If you speak what you believe to be false the color will change and it will be known that you lie. The device is recognized as accurate under Unity law and those words spoken through it are legally binding."

Relaxing a bit from the formal pose, the Vanyr lowered his hand and spoke again, more loosely. "Now, I want you to repeat what you just told us, everything important anyway. About encountering Vanyr before the realm transition, never mind who. Knowing about the Hundred Battles. And human military history. Being a leader."

Kole waited a moment after the prompt, then spoke slowly and clearly.

"I am a native of Earth, now the Terran Realm. I am a leader of my people. I have fought in battle, both before and after the realm transition. I encountered a Vanyr lord before Terra was brought into the Center. From this I learned about the Hundred Battles. On my own I have studied human military history." He was careful to keep a distinct pause between each statement.

The bracelet stayed a steady blue as he spoke, after which the Vanyr nodded and prompted him again. "And you are committed to winning as many battles as possible? You think that you will be a good leader for the Terrans in the fight? You are ready for what happens if you lose?"

Smiling just a bit at this, Kole otherwise maintained his demeanor. "I am fully devoted to winning as many battles as possible, and think that I am the best possible candidate to lead these humans in that fight. I am prepared to die for the sake of my people."

That steady blue glow continued. In his Stillness, which he kept light but was by now ever present, Kole felt the Shard-draw flowing through the device.

The Vanyr gave an exaggerated smile, obviously for Kole's benefit. "Good. Excellent, even. You will be very useful. Now say something obviously false so that we can ."

Without missing a beat, Kole responded. "I think that the speech being given behind me is a good one, Lord Ainat, and that it will have your desired impact on the humans listening."

During this statement, also delivered in the same respectful tone, the glow of the

bracelet strobed to red after each false part before returning to blue when he fell silent again. The other male Vanyr was speaking now, in what sounded like Russian, but the pattern and cadence was the same and Kole felt certain that it was a direct translation of the first speech.

Ainat had leaned forward a bit with his pleased expression, but his smile slipped and he leaned back after the last response. "Hmmm—"

He started to look over at his aide, but Kole spoke on, still careful to separate the statements with the briefest of pauses in between. "I mean to offer no public disrespect, Emissary. But there is a cultural gap here which can lead to misunderstandings. Allow me to speak to them instead and I think that it will be helpful. It could be important for me to do so if I am to lead them to victory." The bracelet maintained its steady blue glow.

Thank you, Coldower, Kole thought, waiting for the decision. His coaching on the scope and limitations of Unity Verifiers was as important as expected. This basic portable unit being much more limited than larger variform units.

The aide caught Ainat's arm as he continued to turn, nodding down at the bracelet and speaking into his ear. He pursed his lips, then brushed her back and turned around toward the speaker across the platform. "Enough! Stop the address."

The Vanyr cut off, looking over at Ainat with surprise.

Turning back to Kole with the broad smile gone, Ainat spoke softly. "The Liseli only wish to see the Terrans find victory in the Battles, of course. If you are to

lead them to that you may as well take over now. But mark me, Terran. Win battles and who is truly in charge and things will go well for you. Lose, or get above yourself, and things will go poorly indeed. Is that clear?"

The Nidavell stepped back in as Kole started to bow again, interrupting his answer. "Lord Ainat?" A large hand circled Kole's wrist just under the Verifier.

"Yes, yes, go on." The Vanyr darted an impatient glance over at the crowd watching them from beyond the Svart and Vanyr standing awkwardly at the front of the stage.

The Nidavell moved smoothly, touching a small crystal to the Verifier, which flowed back into its straight form and was stowed in its pouch. Stepping back, he flashed a look at Kole, face blank but with a wry cast to those dark yellow eyes.

Immediately after, Kole bowed again. "Of course, Emissary. I wish only to lead my people to victory in the Hundred Battles. We rely upon the goodwill of Family Liseli as our sponsor, and you personally as our liaison with your honored Family."

With a sniff, the Vanyr lord muttered, "Well enough," and stepped around. He ushered Kole up to the front of the stage with a regal look and snapped his fingers at the Vanyr that had been speaking. The man hurriedly unclipped a device from his collar and affixed it onto Kole's worn and dirty shirt.

The Vanyr lord then spoke briefly to the crowd in arch tones, though unamplified so probably not many of them could hear even if they could understand the Standard. "I, Emissary Ainat of Family Liseli, now present to you your own

leader for the Hundred Battles, Smith. He will explain further."

With a wave and another false smile at Kole, the Vanyr stepped away to the back, taking the other Liseli personnel with him.

Kole stood alone at the front of the platform, looking down at thousands of human beings standing between stripes of Tegma. None of whom were having a good time. They'd been kept standing here cold and hungry for over an hour now and from what he could hear that speech had been pretty awful.

He took a deep breath before striking a mild stage pose himself, arms held out from his body with open palms facing the audience.

"People of Earth. Of the Terran realm. My name is Kole Smith. I have a plan that will keep many of us alive and that will also help all humans, everywhere. All the surviving humans on earth, Realms away from us here, but also all the humans who have already been living in the Center. Please listen to me."

His voice spoke out in English, amplified somehow to be both loud and perfectly clear by the crystalline device on his collar. It looked to be carrying even to the very back of the human blocks.

He held his hands up in front of him in a patience gesture. "But first, I will have the Tegma move aside so that we can all see each other and talk. I know you are all tired and hungry. There will be food soon. We are all in this together and we must act like it. Come forward a bit but please stay in order and do not crowd one another or the stage."

With this he looked partly over his shoulder but let his voice carry forward still while he switched to Standard. "If the Emissary pleases, will he direct the Tegma to move aside so that the Terrans may speak together."

Ainat gazed narrowly at Kole for a moment, but then nodded slightly to one of the Svart and spoke a few words. The Svart woman who had given the first speech came up to the front but away from Kole to screech out some Standard orders to the Tegma. The grey creatures broke into motion, but slowly and as directed by the Svart. They moved out to the edges of the human blocks to form a circle around them all. In addition to that a double row of them climbed onto the platform to make a barrier between the humans and the Liseli command group.

This all took a few minutes, during which Kole kept his attention on the human crowd. From what he had seen the disparate people had formed a general solidarity in the face of constant menacing Tegma presence.

He dearly hoped the display would help his efforts. It didn't matter if not everyone was willing to listen, but was very important that some of them would follow his lead. He needed to establish some authority. The majority should be English speakers and could understand him.

As the crowd slowly moved together and forward he judged the moment and held out his left hand in front of him, palm out.

"People of Earth. Of the Terran realm. Like it or not, we are all now part of the Hundred Battles. If we win battles then all humans everywhere will gain status in the Center. They will all have better lives. If we lose they will be even worse

off then they are now. The same for every human living on Earth."

Those many faces watched him, wary or disbelieving or showing any of a dozen other emotions. "Everyone here is a fighter. Each one of you killed or helped kill a Tegma by the strength of your own bodies. Not with a gun, but with yourself. I too have done this. That is why Family Liseli brought us here.

"Every one of you is also a survivor. The Liseli gave you a choice, not a very good one but a choice, and every single one of you chose to live, to come here and live instead of fighting on until they killed you. I will ask you to fight, but to fight for life. For your own lives and also the lives of all other humans. For your families, those that still live. For other families and for friends and for all people."

The crowd was starting to stir and the inquisitive looks were spreading, so he held up his hands again. "You have questions. Ask, and I will answer. But we are many and so must do this slowly. Please, I must be able to hear you so do not speak out at once. Raise your hands and let me hear you one at a time."

Hands went up across the crowd, but many just watched. Kole noted one burly fellow just standing there with his arms crossed and a sardonic expression on his face; there were others with a similar attitude.

He did a quick scan and then pointed at the most hostile looking person with a hand up, not far from the front. "You. With the blue hat. What is your question?"

"Who the hell are you and why are you working for them?" The man burst out in a loud enough voice than many could have heard him, but many others would

not.

Kole nodded deeply to the man, almost a bow. "This man asks who the hell am I and also why am I working for those who invaded the earth."

He let his gaze unfocus to take in the crowd in general, bringing a clenched fist up to his chest. "I work with them—not for them—because I want my people to live. I do this because it is harder than dying and because fighting them all until I die will help no one. The earth has fallen. Every nation of the earth is fallen, because humans alone could not stand against the Center. Most of our technology failed the moment they appeared and we could not win.

"We all have few choices now. I do this because it is my best choice. I ask you to work with me because it is your best choice. Look around you. We could all fight now and kill a few more Tegma, but the rest would kill us all. Just like all humans, unless we stop fighting long enough to learn more."

During this and after others tried to speak but Kole rode over them with the power of the amplifier and most were quieted down by those around them. "My name is Kole Smith. I am an American from Ohio. Many of you are also Americans, but others are Canadian or Russian or from any number of other countries. Forgive me, but like most Americans I never got past my own English.

"Until recently, when I gained the Standard tongue of the Center in less than a day by the wonders of their technology. I was not a collaborator. I was captured and given a choice and I chose to fight; I fought and stayed free and fought more before coming here with all of you. That's the first part of who I am. The language part is one reason why I am standing here and telling you all that I can lead you to victory in the Hundred Battles.

"I learned about the Hundred Battles and many other things the same way that I learned the language. Which was a special circumstance and will not be offered to any of you now. I will get to the rest if you wish, but for now let us have another question."

Hands shot up again. A few questions were just yelled out but Kole ignored them. Keeping this orderly was partly about attitude and partly, like all human interactions, about setting and following norms of behavior. He was trying to show his attitude as open and earnest and confidant. Which was honest, though he also felt worried and somewhat afraid and those parts he kept hidden.

He picked another man, over on the far right of the half-circle around him and a bit further back. There were few enough women in the crowd and he could not see any with a hand up. "You, with the beard and the grey temples. What is your question?"

The man pushed forward through the crowd a bit before speaking. Kole noticed a few others trying to move up where they could be heard and mostly being let by.

"So. We must now listen to another loud American. So be it. My question is this. If what you say is true then we must fight more and fight well. Who are you to lead us? Are you an American officer, a military man? I was capitaine in the French cavalry. Well?" He did sound French but poured all of this out in a staccato of mostly good English, projected loud and clear across most of that big crowd.

Kole nodded deeply to the man, just the same as to the first, and took careful

note of his face. He wanted to ask a name but that would break the rhythm, give away some control.

"This man was a captain in the French army. He asks if I am also a military officer. He asks why I am qualified to lead you in battle." He felt thankful that the man had effectively moved them past reiterations of the first question and went quickly into another short speech.

"I think that many of you may have served in the military. Veterans are survivors. I did serve in the American military, but not as an officer and only for four years when I was younger. I learned much in that time, but much of what I did learn there does not matter for the Hundred Battles.

"There are many restrictions during the Battles, one of which is that there are no guns. Another is that we must fight with weapons from our own history. I know all of the restrictions, all of the rules. I also know much about the history of human warfare, having studied it on my own but very seriously.

"More importantly, I have spent months thinking about all of this already and I know exactly what to do. Right now. I will teach as many of you as I can what I know but time is critical. Our first battle will take place in thirty local days. This man was a captain and I value his experience, but he does not know how to win victory. I do." He nodded at the man again, then surveyed the crowd a bit.

"Next question." He picked a hand on the left side this time. "You. With the green shirt." The mostly male crowd was still restless but had grudgingly accepted the discipline of the form.

This man called out more quietly; he looked like he was trying to project but just didn't have the knack. The face was somewhat pudgy, which seemed a bit odd in that crowd of hungry survivors. "Do you mean we have to fight with swords? Why no guns?"

Kole nodded again, almost a bow. "This man asks do we have to fight with swords. And why not guns."

He looked back out over the crowd, raising both fists up in a lifting stance. "The Battles may be fought only by the power of the living will. That means muscles and mind only. No chemical reactions. No mechanical advantage. The only tools permitted are those powered by muscle or by mind."

He wanted to be as honest as possible with these people, here and always, but moved past that quickly. The Vanyr behind him must be smirking to themselves. There was a good reason that no one beat the Vanyr in the Hundred Battles.

"For humans, they must also be tools used by humans during their history before the Center. We must prove this ourselves, because we must make our own weapons here in this compound. They can be swords but they don't have to be. I think spears will be better at first.

"This leads me to another point which you all should know now. The Family Liseli are no longer our captors. They are now our sponsors. All of these Tegma will leave soon and we must govern ourselves here in our compound. We will negotiate with the Liseli Emissary for raw materials, from which we will make our own tools and our own shelters. We will train ourselves with our own weapons. In thirty local days we will fight a battle with what we have."

He paused again, longer than between points in the speech. "All of this will be paid for by the Liseli, so they will not give us much at first. We fight for our own reasons, but when we win the Liseli make money so if we win we can negotiate for better things."

He looked up. This was all taking time and the sun was tracking down. There was much yet to do before the night brought darkness.

"We need to get started with that soon. Time enough for one more question and then we must organize. When we are done just stay in the cohorts you were put in or close enough. Each group send one person up here to the stage for instructions and to talk. It's cold now and will get colder after dark so we have to organize shelter. No one will give it to us anymore." He spoke this more coldly and urgently than the rest, letting them see in him some of the urgency of the situation.

"Last question."

Hands shot up, if anything more than the other times, but his attention was drawn to the burly man right up front. He opened his arms and put his hand up, speaking very loudly and right at Kole. "Yeah, I got a question."

Kole looked at him, feeling reluctant but knowing he could not look like he was backing down. Everyone in the front of the crowd had heard that, could feel the challenge.

He pointed, close enough not to need any visual markers. "You. What is your question?"

The man was wearing flannel and jeans. The shirt looked close to parting from the size of the bulging arms and shoulders. "Why should we believe any of this? Fight so the Liseli can make money? You could just be a plant for them."

This was spoken in a normal voice from ten feet away, but Kole repeated that question faithfully as well after his deep nod.

"This man asks why you should believe anything I say. If we should fight just to make money for the Liseli. That I might be a plant, a hidden agent, for the Liseli."

He looked down at the man for another moment, then up and across the crowd, about to speak.

A high voice interrupted his thoughts, coming from right behind the truculent man. "I know this man! He is not a plant!" The young woman he had seen earlier popped up above the crowd, held up between the hands of her big friend. She turned in his grip and started to yell again, but Kole said "Wait" and his voiced boomed over her.

He continued, "I will answer the question in a moment, but this woman has something to say. Hear her." With that he caught the eye of the big Hispaniclooking man and motioned him forward.

Those brown eyes looked up at the woman he held, then that big form shouldered past the questioner and others without effort and placed her on the

platform next to Kole.

She stood there looking fiercely at him for a moment while Kole held out his hands in a patience gesture to the crowd and then unclipped the amplifier device. Hoping that this would not go badly wrong, he stepped over to clip it on her collar and then stood back with a go ahead gesture.

If he had tried this with another man then half the crowd might have wanted to get onstage, but there was a special magic about a woman flaring brave in front of a bunch of men. She might not feel it but he knew every man there should be held by it, at least for a time.

She looked at him for another moment, something unreadable in her eyes, before turning to the crowd and nodding sharply. "I know this man. Not his name until now but I saw him in St. Louis. I fought there until I was captured, me and Manuel and Charles and some others. I was captured first but this man was held in the same place I was. More than this, I believe his words. I watched him when he spoke and he spoke truth to us. Listen to him. He will fight for our people. I too will fight for our people. Fight with us."

This started out slow and stilted but by the end of the short speech was pouring it forth in a flood of emotion. Then she unclipped the amplifier and stepped over to Kole, in one motion dropping it in his open hand and then herself off the platform to her friend. They both moved back behind the questioner as Kole watched for a little longer.

He clipped the device back on himself and then looked back up, the words starting out rough and then smoothing out. "I have not lied to you.

"I stretched a bit when I said the Liseli will make money. There is some of that, not money exactly but the Center equivalent, but mostly the Hundred Battles is about status. Status and power. The Liseli will gain in status if we win. Humanity will also gain in status if we win. Gain in power in the Center.

"So it doesn't matter. The Liseli killed your friends while you were killing their Tegma, but it doesn't matter now. We do not fight for them but for ourselves."

The truculent man rolled his eyes and pushed forward a bit more, saying "Pull the other one!" in a much louder voice, obstinately unconvinced.

Kole felt a fire stirring in him in response, decided to let some of it show. He boomed out, "I have told you the truth."

Letting his voice get cold like his eyes and even louder and pouring his own form of ion into his words, he decided to give them the hard facts in another way. "It doesn't matter if you believe me."

He placed his hands on his hips with elbows spread. "In thirty days time these Tegma will come back."

An arm pointed slowly around at the encircling force before returning to his hip. "They will come back and they will force some of us into the great arena beyond those gates. And then fighters of another species will come in and we will fight them until we are dead or they are dead.

"If we lose that first battle the Liseli will have no more use for the rest of you and you will be cast out and likely to die. Humans everywhere will suffer, as we will be the proof that humans are powerless within the civilization of the Center. But if we win then those same humans will gain status. And a little more every time if we continue to win. The Hundred Battles are a proof of power, or at least potential for that power.

"Thirty days. I don't care if I am in charge or how much authority I will have, but you will listen to me now. We must organize ourselves and we must start to make weapons and we must train with them. Those we will fight are doing the same and they will be ready. We must be ready."

With this Kole stopped trying to convince and dropped into another gamble, the last gambit he had with this effort to get things started.

He barked out orders, letting all the authority he had found as a fief-lord strike down at them. "Break up into cohorts. Get some space between you. Each cohort will send a leader to the front for further orders. The leaders among you know what to do. Get it done."

With that he turned on his heel and walked toward the Liseli group, unclipping the amplifier as he went. There was a brief pause as they directed the Tegma to let him through and he was able to make out something from the noise behind him.

Shouting had broken out as he walked away, and with this many people that made for a lot of noise. But rising over the rest of the voices he heard a particular sound. People shouting louder than the others, or harder, but with united purpose. People forcing their will on a mass of humanity. The familiar sound of the NCO.

Bless the sergeants, he thought. Knowing that some of those leaders had been made by the militaries of earth, but some of them were being born right here and now. Leaders among humanity, that called those around them to follow. Given clear united direction in the face of apparent need they could bring any crowd of people to heel.

One way or another—some of the sounds behind him were those of fists striking flesh. But the general noise was already dying slowly away as he walked through to stand in front of the Emissary, until only those uniting voices were ringing out behind him.

Thank you, god, he thought, bowing to the Vanyr, it bloody worked.

Unless he was mistaken, the Emissary had been about to run or maybe order the Tegma to do something stupid, but seemed to settle a bit as Kole offered outward respect and the noise of the crowd died down some.

"Please forgive me for the commotion, honored Emissary, and for the unfortunate but necessary turns of phrase. Humans must be motivated in a particular way, but it can be a chaotic business. We are just come into true civilization, after all. As you can see," he half-turned and moved his arm out in a presentory fashion, blinking a bit at the sight of people being forced to fall more or less into ranks by the willing majority, "everything is in hand. They have accepted my command and we are ready to start preparing for the Battles."

Kole wondered briefly if he were laying it on a bit too thick, but the Vanyr lord seemed to accept his flattery as obvious fact.

"Yes. Well done, Smith." He turned to gesture along one of the walls. "We have piled basic supplies just by the gate there. Food and some blankets. You may collect them shortly, after we leave."

He turned again to gesture down the other wall. "You will find some easily used water dispensers spaced along the wall just down there. If there is nothing else, then, we will be going. I will return in the morning for a report and to discuss any further needs."

He eyed Kole narrowly, pausing for a moment. "With a number of Tegma, of course, and we are never defenseless while in here." At this point he reached into a pocket that Kole had been very carefully not noticing and pulled out a battleorb, which was activated in a brief flash of yellow light but then went still. "Not that you would think otherwise, being such the clever Terran."

Kole bowed again, maintaining a the same careful demeanor of respect. He felt a small hard lump in his guts as he did so but carefully ignored that as well, as always.

"I would not offer violence to the Emissary, Lord Ainat. Nor would I offer such insult to our sponsors the Liseli. There are a number of other possible supplies I would like to discuss, but nothing that will not wait until morning. Except for this." He held up the amplifier. "You saw how necessary such a device can be. May I hold on to it for now?"

"Hmmm. Such things are not inexpensive…but I suppose. It will be ed for in further negotiations."

The Vanyr offered that wide false smile, mimicking a human expression but looking alien on that narrow face. "After all, we are lucky to have found you. Getting organized this well so soon. Family Liseli will look forward to your successful battles. I personally will look forward to overseeing your progress."

"I thank you, Lord Ainat." Kole offered a last bow, feeling that doing so would get old very fast but willing himself to follow the persona as started. "Until tomorrow."

The Emissary swept off, followed by the other Vanyr and Gariath, who bestowed an ironic look on Kole as he ed.

The three Svart all began to issue orders to the Tegma, who slowly marched over to and through the gate which closed behind them.

In his Stillness, Kole felt the throb of the Shard-flow through the walls merge into the gate as his eyes ed the solid grey color of the gate merge into the white of the walls and disappear.

He took a breath, then turned back toward the front of the platform and those waiting for him. He was tired already and there was still more to do.

Moving over, he took a fast count. Thirteen men and two women. Which quite said something for the women, given the gender disparity of the humans present. One of them was the young firebrand, a bit of challenge in her eyes as she looked at him.

The other woman was built like a weightlifter and stood larger than most of the men present. Among whom Kole noted both the French officer and the truculent questioner. Who was sporting two black eyes and some other new bruises, but stood looking back at him steadily with arms folded.

Kole hopped down. There were stairs around the side that the Liseli had used, but he just patted down a hand and dropped the three feet or so to the ground.

"Gather round, people. Not much daylight left and we have things to do. I need one cohort to oversee food distribution and another to out blankets. Both of those are piled by where the gate was. Water is over that way and for tonight we will be going to get drinks in groups. One cohort will start digging latrines, which we will maintain discipline over. Several cohorts will establish sleeping grounds for tonight and I want three cohorts to scout out the compound in the light we have left. Volunteers?"

He held in a sigh as they started to speak, careful to maintain a demeanor of command with what might well become his command group.

Fourteen

Just northwest of Starfall Keep.Early morning.

Tammy sat quietly next to Clayton. She wanted to cry a little but didn't, still holding it together. The trip was almost through and then she could go see what was left of her house. I never cry.

Clayton shuffled a little beside her, twisting his body some to check around them, then went still again. His good arm gripped his shotgun. She knew that he could handle the thing well enough but thought again about getting it cut down for him. Long guns really needed a second hand to keep them steady, and Clayton's left arm now ended just below the elbow.

She heard Charlie shift a little too, probably to check on the noise of Clayton shifting. The three of them were all facing outward with their backs to one another, watching the silver mist. After getting turned around twice on the way in Charlie had just sat them down and said they could wait for daylight.

They were still a couple miles from the keep, maybe, so the effect must have gotten stronger since they left. Tammy grew up here, lived most of her life in this area, but she still didn't know where they were. Which was weird. Just some woods filled with silver mist and she had no idea. So they sat and waited.

She sighed to herself. That was ok. She kind of wanted to get back and kind of didn't. There had been fun times on the trip. Some. But she knew Clayton was

really worried about talking to his family, especially Sheri's kids.

And none of them knew what they were going to say to Tom's family. It wasn't that bad when he bought it but you never wanted to tell the family. Probably they would lie. Died in his sleep. Really peaceful. She practiced that a bit in her head to see if it would work.

They'd lost Sheri just after beaching the canoes for the last time. In the stupidest way, but that was just how things had gone on the return leg. Whatever luck had seen them through to St. Louis ran out after Kole left.

The mist was making her head spin a little, so she let her eyes drop closed and just listened while she thought back over the trip.

They had walked for a while, but then managed to find a boat that would work to get them floating again. Some river cruiser, Clayton said. A Chris something. Anyway they used poles to steer and just let the river take them down for a few days.

And then they walked for some more boring days but it had been kind of exciting when they found the canoes again. Until she thought about it. Yay, the canoes. Now we get to paddle upriver. Yay.

But that was just a couple days. Clayton wanted to keep going but Sheri was in charge so they beached out just past Owensboro to start walking again.

And then Sheri bought it.

It was raining and hard to see but they needed some shelter. There were some metal skinned buildings scattered around where they stopped and they were going to find a place to wait out the rain. But then Sheri had slipped on some torn up sheet metal and cut herself.

They were all looking around in the rain and nobody saw much at first and by the time they got to her she was almost gone already. From a cut to the neck. By some busted up sheet metal. Tough old Sheri. Damn but that sucked. And Clayton made them bury her down by the water. In the rain.

Things were ok with Charlie in charge. He never served but he was really careful about everything. And he knew a lot of stuff. Clayton lost the arm but at least he was still around, thanks to Charlie. That had been just past Bowling Green, when they lost Tom.

They were hit by another group that wanted their stuff. That's what she thought, anyway, since she would want their stuff too.

That sucked real bad. Like Faluja bad.

No crazy cannibals, no katana fun. They were just walking along and boom they were under fire and Clayton's arm was spraying blood. So they dropped in place and Tom opened up with his rifle while Charlie got a tourniquet on Clayton. She got under Clayton's good arm and Charlie helped them move while Tom covered.

And then they turned to cover Tom while he ran but he got hit anyway. Just fell down like a rag doll when he was running and she knew what that meant. So she screamed at Charlie and they all ran away. They never even saw the bastards. Tom had a really cool sword and the bastards got it.

So no real fun on the way back. Just a bunch of walking and an accident and an ambush. They took Clayton's arm off a couple days later. The bones were all busted up and Charlie said it would never heal right. She donated her bottle of tequila and they got Clayton really drunk before she got behind him and choked him out real fast.

Which was fun. And she would never tell Clayton but it had been really fun to cut into him and to play with the arm for a while until Charlie made her bury it. So maybe a little fun on the way back.

And here they were. Lost in the mist in her own damn backyard. Waiting. She opened her eyes and wiped at them a little. Freaking mist. Gets everywhere.

Charlie spoke. "It's thinning out. I can tell where the sun is and I know where to go now." So they all stood up and started walking again. It took a while longer, but she knew they were at the keep when she could see the fountains spraying water up out of the mist still hugging the ground and the pond.

They took the bridge across and walked up through the big arch. The door to the keep appeared out of the wall and started opening as they walked up. Good timing anyway. Nobody else seemed to be around this early.

That dark skinned woman stood in the doorway between some Tegma, looking around. Tatiana, one of Kole's women. Or something. Tammy had no idea what had been going on with her and Kole and those other two and didn't want to know anyway.

Charlie walked right up to the woman, but Tammy touched Clayton's arm to hold him back.

Tatiana's eyes had lit up when she saw them but she looked really afraid as she spoke up. "My Lord Kole?"

"He was fine when he left us. We got him to St. Louis like he wanted." Charlie glanced back over his shoulder at Tammy for just a moment, then faced Tatiana again. "Maybe some new scars but he should be just fine. Wherever he is now."

With this he gave a nod and walked on past her into the keep. The Tegma let him through at a motion from the woman.

Clayton started to follow him in but Tammy held him back again. The parting had brought her to a decision about something that she had been trying not to think about on the trip back.

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Over there."

"Tammy, I got to talk to my family. About Sheri."

"Your family can just wait some more, Clayton. They're not going anywhere. I need to talk to you about Sheri too. And some other stuff. So we're gonna take a walk and we're gonna do that. Over there."

He looked confused but let her lead him. Idiot.

She looked back at the relieved but still worried looking woman in the doorway as they walked, then faced forward again. Maybe she could get him to shave the beard. Or just cut it off while he slept…

Fifteen

He sat slumped against the wall.

Kole was tired. Just two more days until the first battle and the work never stopped. Not physical work. He did a little of that but mostly just told others to do it. It was the constant need to maintain a persona. The aura of command was wearing on him. Already.

Better get used to it, he thought to himself as he rose to his feet. Here they come again.

The great doors were closing not far off. They had finally gotten around to putting up a semi-permanent meeting place for his daily with the Emissary, this simple canvas awning by the gates. Even a couple of rough stools. Which were not very comfortable and thus his position on the ground against the wall.

He had just a few minutes to himself every day after the Emissary left and took full advantage of it to relax. Other than that it was pretty much all work from eyes open in the morning to eyes shut at night.

He walked out for his second big meeting of the day, this one with his staff group. Chin rising as he moved out from under the canvas, he shifted into a confident stride over to the figures that had stopped to wait for him.

Alain Godinot, French Capitaine of Cavalry, had become his de facto chief of staff as they slowly reorganized things from the initial clumsy cohorts, and stood in front of the small group. Now the occasionally maddening Frenchman just got called 'Commandant' by almost everyone and was recognized as second in command. Kole had made the rank official, mostly because it annoyed the man. Who had wanted to be the 'Tacticos' instead and thought Commandant was too confusing. Which it wasn't to the non-French speakers. The accent that Alain had used that first day had improved markedly, unless he chose to backslide to thumb his nose at the English only speakers, and was barely noticeable anymore.

He had become insistent on formality in official settings. Kole saw the need but it grated on him. "Strategos, ser! Awaiting orders!" The former French officer, standing a few inches shorter than Kole but muscular about it, snapped to a sharp pose of attention as he spoke. Behind him the four current staff Majors did the same, though with varying results. Not everyone had been military before the last month and not all of those had the same traditions.

Behind all five the Centurion of the Legion, Alan Tucker, stood loosely holding the Legion standard as he watched Kole with a slight sneer on his face. Kole still didn't like the man and probably never would, but the truculent bastard was stubborn enough for the job of keeping that standard up no matter what happened. The former Army Staff Sergeant was arrogant, but also surprisingly intelligent and had turned into a good supervisor and lead for the other Legion NCOs. Or rather for the Unit Officers, the UOs, as Kole had designated them.

The standard itself was still just rough paint on a rectangle of canvas hanging down from the pole it was tied too, but that would get better in time. Still, it was easy to make out the large device, a bloody red hand open and palm out on a white field.

Kole nodded to Alain and to the others. Carmen was the Gold staff Major today, standing firmly at attention next to the others from Blue, Green, and Red, all men. He left the details about the rotation up to Alain and the Banner groups, but the three Banners of each Color all had four Majors between them and one served on staff while the other three each held command over a Banner.

Seventeen Majors total with the oddball over Tank Banner, sixteen of them in rotating command over the twelve color Banners. The highest officers in the Legion under himself and Alain, Command Officers or COs, as distinct from the UOs serving the noncom role, and Kole was determined to develop them into good or at least competent commanders during the Battles. Or force them out when they failed to measure up, as had already happened when Tucker started as a Major and looked to be the case with several others in the current crop.

Kole touched his right fist to his chest and then let it fall. The four Command Officers all did the same just after, while Tucker looked on sardonically in the background. Kole was always pretty bad about letting other people salute first, from old habits. It was a different salute than most were familiar with, but easy to match when holding a spear and shield. The salute itself looked a bit slack without the equipment, but that also reduced comparisons to some recent Terran history. This was the Roman salute, in the old style.

"The day after tomorrow, Alain. I think we've just about managed all we can do before the first Battle. The fighters rest up tomorrow and you get to do whatever you want with the others. So what's on my plate for today?"

The Commandant relaxed a bit with a brief look at the Majors, who did the same. "Ser. Gold Banners are alone on the training field today, with reduced efforts as ordered. Just maneuver practice with Gold Charlie against Gold Delta and Gold Echo. Blue Banners are on full stand down, as per the rotation, while Red Banners have camp duties and Green Banners are on crafting duties."

He shook his head and mostly brown hair, faded to grey at the temples. "Not that there is much for them to do until we get more resources. Mostly Greens are working on maintenance for the tents and checking over the arms for the Battle. One hundred shields, hide over a wood frame. Spears for all hundred fighters, each wood with a fire-hardened tip." There was faint disgust on the military man's face as he enumerated the arms readied for the first Battle. "Plus the extras of each, of course, in case of breakage. Ser."

Taking his cue, Kole gave all five of them a wry look. "We'll make something better for next time, as soon as we prove that we can win a Battle. The Liseli are pretty cheap but they stand to make a solid profit if we keep winning. Some of which will be ed on to us. Plus I think the Vanyr like to manage the show as much as possible for their little production, within the rules. I expect to fight the second Battle with stone weapons and there should be a steady progression after that."

This was spoken mostly for the sake of the Majors. The staff rotation was important but it tended to lead to a lot of repeated explanation.

"Ser," Carmen spoke up as he finished, then continued at his nod. "Can we really expect to win using only sticks? With what sort of losses—of casualties?"

He nodded again with an approving look at her. Sometimes it was tough to get the Majors to speak up in these meetings, which were mostly for training. And from what he could tell Carmen worked hard to learn the military terminology.

"I feel pretty confident about the first Battle, Major Rivia. They mix up the order of things every time with most of the other Battles, but that one is always the

same. Just one hundred of us and one hundred of them, all armed about the same. From my knowledge of the history we should have a bit of an advantage from hardening the spear tips. That's been done a few times by the challengers but the defenders never do it."

Major Brad Thomas, of the Red, offered another question. "Ser. Can you tell us any more about the enemies for the Battles?"

"I know you want more on that, Major Thomas. Most everyone does. But it all has to come from me and to avoid confusion we're going to do this one Battle at a time. The first opponent is as I have stated to everyone before and I won't repeat the description now. They were natives of one of the early Realms brought into the Center of Unity, long ago. Now the descendants live on big reservations in their home Realm and have the same chance in this that we do. Win Battles and gain status.

"This bunch never does, which is why they're always the first Battle. Expect them to come at us in one big mass, but still be ready for anything. Follow orders and keep your head about you."

At which the Major from the Green cut in. "Ser. I request again to be included in the first Battle. Ser." The darker skinned young man originally came from Haiti, but the Liseli had captured him in upstate New York. There was usually a bit of music in his voice but right now it sounded strained and flat.

"You offer is appreciated, Major Joseph, but denied." Mackenson Joseph still sounded backwards to Kole's ear, but was apparently a fairly common Haitian name. "The roster for the first Battle is set. I don't care if someone breaks a leg tomorrow. The day after that I'll have them carried to the back of my line and order them to stab ankles from the ground."

He softened his tone a bit. No need to discourage fighting spirit. "You will have your chance, Major. We're only going in with a single company this time and I don't want to crowd in too many officers to confuse the troopers with."

The young Major still seemed frustrated, but nodded stiffly after the words.

Kole continued, "If there are no further questions for now? Ok, moving on then. Commandant, where do you think I can do the most good this morning?"

"With Blue Delta, ser. They still have problems with some of the basics and I think if you give it all to them in a full lecture it will help. They are gathered on the inspection ground, waiting for you."

The Commandant smiled at him slightly, that evil gleam creeping into his eyes despite the perfectly respectful tone. The older man played his role to perfection, but also clearly enjoyed it when his role meant giving Kole crappy jobs.

Sighing, Kole straightened with a "Very well," and started off. Presumably the other six all followed after but he didn't bother to check.

Banner Blue Delta continued to be a problem. There were a lot of other rough spots—it had been less than a month—but Blue Delta was the worst of it. They were all Americans, mostly older men, countrymen really, and mostly veterans.

Kole expected good things from the formation in battle but for now they were a

stubborn bunch and were being slow to adapt to the Legion system. Which to be fair was new and a bit of a hodgepodge. He had worked out most of it himself, loosely based on Roman legionary organization and tactics mixed with some Three Kingdoms Chinese, but also took input in their early days in the compound from Alain and some others.

Information gathered from the Shard Field and ideas bounced off of Coldower led him to think that tactical evolutions would work out, but it was pretty different from modern Terran military standards.

Right now the Blue Deltas were probably pissed off about being kept standing around on parade while Blue Charlie and Blue Echo got to relax, but then there was a lot of that in armies in general so they should be used to it. You just couldn't keep thousands of people organized under discipline without a lot of them being kept standing around much of the time.

The officers did enough moving around that they should be grateful to just be standing. He snorted to himself as they arrived at the inspection ground, the designated name for the big open space in front of their temporary camp.

Right. Troopers are always so philosophical about their lot in life.

Orders rang out in front of him as he arrived. His own ears hurt just a little as the stout figure of Mark Carbonara let out a very loud call. "Banner!…Blue Delta will Stand At Attention!"

The Major in charge this rotation, Kristy Sutherland, had a quiet voice that did not match her bodybuilder frame. For some reason Blue Delta accepted her

commands pretty well and more often than not she was the Major in charge of the Banner. In contrast Carbonara could peel paint off the walls with his tenor voice. Which was a good trait for the head Unit Officer, the Staff, of a Banner.

The position had also come to be called a Bannerman, as they carried the unit standard.

Kole strode up to the two where they both stood out in front of the Banner, ing to let Kristy salute first before returning it.

The standard that Mark held was rough like the Legion standard but also clear to the sight. A Greek letter delta, a hollow triangle, in black on a sky blue field.

Charlie and Echo Banners just used the modern letters, though the Charlie 'C' showed as reversed, but all the Delta Banners had opted for this variation. Some of the letter devices were black and some white, depending on what gave better contrast on the unit color.

"Thank you, Staff. Major Sutherland. May as well get started. I'll be taking them through the Legion organization. If the two of you wouldn't mind standing by."

"Yes, ser," Kristy murmured back in her deep but usually quiet voice. "Here come some troopers with the box."

She gestured at what looked to be a full Platoon carrying up their portable speaking platform, a wooden construction with a double layer of canvas on top.

They placed the rough piece in front of Kole before a young Sergeant hustled them off and their grey haired Lute followed silently after with a nod at Kristy.

"Thank you, Major." He clambered swiftly up the side of the glorified box and resumed a command pose. "If they would stand at ease?"

"Yes, ser. Staff?" She glanced at her Bannerman, there standing stiff at attention as he held the sign of his rank.

"Yes, Ser, Major." A sharp turn on one heel at the standard swayed. "Banner!… Blue Delta will Stand at Ease!" The clarion call was a bit easier to handle from up above, and Kole could also make out the echoed cries from Company Tops ("Company!…Blue Delta First will Stand at Ease!").

His own staff group took up positions between the stage and the Banner Major, while Centurion Tucker brought his taller standard to rest just back and to the outside of the Blue Delta standard.

As the formation relaxed slightly and four hundred sets of eyes all swiveled to track on him, Kole remained standing there silently. Counting twenty heartbeats before he relaxed his own pose slightly and reached into his pocket for the amplifier.

As soon as he touched the device his Stillness came to the fore and he felt the Shard power flowing through the crystalline structure within. From a yellow Shard not very far away but beyond the screen of the walls. He let the Stillness come and his own cares fall away except for the emotions he chose to put forth in the speech.

He tried for a stern tone to begin. "Troopers of the Blue Delta Banner. All of this is new and it is different from what you learned in the past. I understand that, as do your Banner officers. But you must do better. Every Banner in the Legion will have to fight as one, with all the same methods. Not yet, but soon.

"Will you let Blue Delta be the only Banner that fails its duty in battle? It's not enough that you know how to fight, that you will fight. You must also be part of the Legion in your hearts. Forget the old systems. Learn the new. This is the Legion of Terra and if we fight as one then no Battle will defeat us."

He shifted from that motivational into the lecture, with its different rhythms. "Listen up. I will go through our new organizational pattern with all of you now, all together, so you will have no excuse not to know it. Those with better memories will help the others. You will all drill it into each other. I know you already have a lot of this but you must know all of it, even the parts you don't like or that are strange to you.

"The full Legion has five thousand personnel. Thirteen Banners plus the command group. The color Banners each have about four hundred personnel and the Tank Banner has about two hundred. Each color Banner itself has the headquarters group and four Companies, each Company of which has ninety personnel. Each Company has four Platoons, each with twenty-two personnel. Each Platoon has four Fists and each Fist is comprised of five personnel.

"Most of you are standing in a Fist right now. Yourself and four others, together like a single hand." He raised a clenched fist up, fingers toward them, for a moment. "Of all of these the Fist is the most important for you. Every person in the Legion is now closer than your family, but those of your Fist are the closest to you. Know each other, take care of each other, and know that the Battles are coming and the Fist will live or die as one.

"Just as the Platoon will move together on the battlefield. The Fists are all a simple letter, aech or jay or zed or ell, but the Platoon is your main grouping and can be identified from any other Platoon in the Legion. This is Blue Delta Banner, the eighth Banner of the Legion, so every Platoon starts with the number eight. Just that. After the eight follows your Platoon number, which will be five, six, seven, nine, ten, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, or ninety."

He rolled these off slowly in groups of four, trying to help instill the unfamiliar collection. "Which for some of you is the worst part! So many numbers and they aren't in order! In battle you will be glad of this. There are sixteen Platoons in every color Banner and two hundred Platoons in the Legion. But all you must do for any one Platoon is to say two numbers!"

He jumped down off the platform and jogged over to the ranks. A hand thrown up behind him kept the officers in place. "You!" Pointing to a trooper just to the right of the center of the formation. "What is your Platoon number?"

The younger man was wearing only some very worn overalls, but looked sharper in countenance than those around him. A Lance, from the narrow strip of canvas around one arm. He barked out immediately. "Eight-thirty, Strategos!"

Kole turned and jogged to the left, pointing at another trooper. "What is your Platoon number?"

This man was older with a significant gut which got sucked in a bit as the trooper went to a stiffer pose before coming out with, "Uh, eight, uh, eightfifteen, Straty—Strategos!"

Kole noted the man's Sergeant standing just out of ranks to one side. Who also had a large gut, for now, but looked quite a bit more on point than this hayseed. The Sergeant was going red in the face but otherwise had not moved. Good enough.

"Good, trooper! But not good enough for battle! You must know this by heart, without even thinking. As that first trooper did."

He turned and walked swiftly back to the platform, stopping in front of it to turn around and say, "As all of you must know it by heart, and all the rest of this," while sweeping a pointing finger across the front of the formation.

With that he clambered back up the platform and turned to face them again. "I expect each of you to drill on this, just as you drill on how to fight! This is your basic organization. I have not had months to get you in shape but this you should know already. All else follows from this and we must know it without thinking in battle.

"To continue. The Platoon is the basic unit of maneuver on the battlefield. I can identify any Platoon in the Legion with just four syllables! Maybe only two! And any one of the eight hundred Fists with just one more syllable! You will be glad of this in time.

"Each Company groups four Platoons just as each Banner has four Companies. First Company, second Company, third Company, and fourth Company, in every Banner. Always just like that, never the number by itself. For now all the same Platoons are also in the same companies, but that may change later."

He pointed at the second trooper he had called upon. "That trooper is in Company Blue Delta Second!" At the first trooper. "That trooper is in Company Blue Delta Third! Easy! The Platoon structure is beautiful and you will know it well, but the Company structure is very simple. If I ever again hear one of you say Blue Delta Three instead of the proper Blue Delta Third I will assign extra duty to the entire Banner! And then I may grind you in where the battle is hottest!"

Looking around a bit Kole noted sweat beading on a few brows, mostly officers, like Carbonara holding the standard or that Captain just left of center, even though the day was chill. Good. There was no more time to waste on nursing Blue Delta along and this needed to sink in. It should encourage the other Banners as well when they heard about it.

Those that weren't already listening to his amplified voice right now. They might be laughing at Blue Delta now but would soon start thinking through the implications for themselves. A lot of the Banners were still pretty slack.

"There are thirteen Banners!" He pointed dramatically at the standard Carbonara still held ramrod straight. "The Banner is your home and you will follow it everywhere! If that standard falls you will not know where the Major is and the Major is the one who will keep you all alive on the battlefield! More than that, it is the focus of your collective will! Fight for your Banner and every trooper in the Banner will fight for you!"

He dropped his tone down and changed the pace of his voice back to lecture mode. They should be listening now, enough of them, but they wouldn't have been without the emotional charge.

"The thirteen Banners each have their own designation. Tank Banner is special, as I'm sure everyone in Tank Banner will tell you, but they will earn that place in battle or they will lose it. The others are all color Banners. Blue, Red, Green, and Gold. Blues, Reds, and Greens are the main line Banners and Golds are the light action Banners. There are three Banners of each color, Charlie, Delta, and Echo.

"Together with Blue Charlie and Blue Echo, your Banner will fight on the left flank. The Red Banners will fight in the center of the line and the Green Banners will fight on the right flank. Unless we need to change that, so don't get too attached to the idea of the left flank. The nice thing about so many units is that we can do many different things with them.

"The Gold Banners do some of that already. They might be out front or they might be protecting your own flank, but they will all be fighting just like you. Making your job easier. So they may not be in the line like you but be nice to your Gold Banner friends. And also your Tank Banner friends. Right when we need them the most those heavies in Tank Banner will get stuck in and save all our asses."

Kole patted the front of his thighs twice and then spread his arms out a bit. "So that's how we're set up. But each of us also has a rank and every rank has its own job." He lowered his arms again and paused before continuing, letting his gaze travel across the assembled people.

"Most of you are troopers. This is a legion but everyone in it is a trooper. You may want a different job and you can work for that over time, but that the trooper has the least to worry about in battle. A trooper worries about their own life and about following orders. A Lance, one in charge of each fist, worries about the same things but five times over. And it only goes up from there.

"Lance is an important position. It is the basic level of officer and the Lance is a Unit Officer. Lances take their orders from the Platoon Sergeant or from the Platoon Lute. The Sergeant is also a Unit Officer, a UO, which means that their job is to take care of the Platoon and to worry about how to accomplish orders. The Lute has a different job, which is to tell the Platoon what they should do. Lutes also get orders but it is their job to think about what needs doing and when and to let the Sergeant go about getting it done.

"This is called the division of command and is very important. Every officer sticks to their own job and that way more gets done. I will not discuss the subject further here as I know you are all tired of standing, but there is one more point you should with this. The difference between a Unit Officer, a UO, like a Sergeant, and a Command Officer, or CO, like a Lute, is a matter of role, not class. They each have their own role. And they each may get promoted, or demoted, into a different role. You have your chain of command and you will follow it. I repeat, you will follow the chain of command."

He paused a bit more to sweep his gaze around. "That being true, that promotion is not a matter of class in this Legion. A Sergeant may be promoted to Major if they are good enough and a Major may be demoted to Sergeant, or even trooper, if they are bad enough at the job.

"Now, everyone can be a good trooper and I expect you to judge that trooper, if it happens, like a trooper and not like the Major they were. Just as I expect you to judge every person in the legion by how well they do their job right now. Including me. We all get paid the same, which is nothing, and we are all fighting for the same thing. So do your own job and do it well."

He stopped talking for a moment to gauge the alien sun.

"Right. The rest is easy so let's get this done. Every Company is commanded by a Captain, in the Command Officer slot, and a Top, in the Unit Officer slot. There are only four each of these in your Banner so you had better pay attention when they speak. Each Banner has one Major, who might change from day to day so that all the Majors can learn how to do my job, but you will only ever have one Major in command and you had better listen to them. The head Unit Officer will stay the same. The Staff, the Bannerman, like Staff Carbonara standing here holding the heart of Blue Delta Banner upright.

"Every Lance can give orders to every trooper, but they had better have a good reason if that trooper is not in their own Fist. Every Sergeant to every Lance and trooper and every Lute to every Sergeant and so on. I hope they all the same limitation that there had better be a good reason if they give orders outside of their unit. Here's where it's a little different from what you may be used to. Every Top can give orders to every Lute and so forth on down. Every Captain to every Top and every Staff to every Captain and on down.

"That's right. Higher level Unit Officers give orders to lower level Command Officers. That's the Legion chain of command and you had best get used to it fast. The only exception is for the command line—if the Major dies or is incapacitated then the senior Company Captain becomes the acting Major and can give orders to everybody. And so on down the line.

"Last few things. First, holding the Legion standard you will see Centurion Tucker. He gives orders to Majors if there is a need and holds in his hand the heart of the Legion. Where you see that standard you will find the Legion command. Second, this is your Commandant."

Kole spread an arm over to gesture at Alain. "He can and will give orders to everybody but me. There is only one Commandant in the Legion and when I am not around he is in charge.

"Last of all, I am your Strategos. My job is to lead us to victory in every single one of the Hundred Battles. That is what I will do."

He paused again, twenty heartbeats as at the beginning of the address, gazing around at them steadily. At the twenty count he turned and hopped down off the platform before saying, "Your Banner, Major."

"Yes, ser, Strategos." Kristy looked a bit stiff from standing there as she moved forward some and called over to her Bannerman. "Break to companies to fall out, Staff."

"Yer, ser, Major." Carbonara stepped forward himself, two sharp strides as the standard swayed. "Banner…Blue Delta!" Each Company Top echoed him (Company…Blue Delta First!). "Break to…companies! To fall…out!"

With that each Company Top proceeded to dismiss their quarter of the Banner, starting with First Company on the left.

Kole gestured Alain up beside him as he walked toward the officer mess tent, unclipping the amplifier. That had been thirsty work.

"I want to get some water, but after that let's go ahead and inspect the arms for the Battle. Green Charlie did a good job on them, such as they are, and I want to show approval."

"Very good, ser."

The Commandant glanced over his shoulder at the trailing staff Majors before lowering his voice. "Good speech, Kole. It made me glad not to have your job."

A snort. "That's why I make the big bucks, Alain." Dry humor was supposed to be more of a British thing but Alain was something of a master at it. Maybe he learned in the army.

Kole tried to give back a little of the same when he could. "Perhaps I'll die in the Battles and you will be graced with command."

A mild shudder. "Please do not do that, ser. I would have to train Tucker to be Commandant. Also I am still training you and do not want to waste all the time spent."

Kole gave another snort and walked on, not even trying to respond to that.

Sixteen

Realm Horefell, Battle Arena.Mid-day.

Carmen shifted her grip on her first javelin, then set it butt down and let in fall into the arm holding her light shield and four spare javelins, so she could check on her pouch of rocks again. Rocks and sticks. That's all she had to fight with. Dios.

Snatching up the javelin, she turned. Once more, she inspected the troopers of the sole Fist from Gold Charlie that she could bring to this fight. To this Battle. Mostly they just looked bored. The Lance, Daniel Fresno, raised an eyebrow at her but didn't speak. She just nodded at him as she looked them over again.

Joshua dela Cruz, Angel Garcia, Ryan Reyes, Jerome Ramos, and Daniel made up Fist 10-90J. This was her first real command, her first Legion Battle, so she knew all of their names. They were all Filipino and all better runners than her. Lance Fresno could do wonders with a javelin, even with the homemade sticks they had to work with. They were all better with weapons than she was, but she was the officer so her job was different.

She turned again, looking over at the others nearly swallowed up in this large holding area. She stood off to the side with her Gold troopers. Just one hundred of them and the whole legion could fit in here. Major Thomas was exchanging a few words with Captain Brown right behind the full Red company they had brought. The Top for Red Charlie First stood nearby, holding the bloody hand standard of the Legion just for today.

She let her gaze travel across the platoons. She had memorized the numbers for this, like the names of her own Fist. Platoons 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, and 1-9 were mostly standing around like Fist 10-90J.

Sergeants walked slowly around checking gear while Lutes stood and looked confident like the Captain and Major. Like her too, as she made a conscious effort to stop fidgeting and to look confident. She didn't think her Fist would care though. Gold Banners were different.

Over on the other side Kole was standing between Manuel and the other bruiser from Tank Banner. She thought his name was Enkbat or something but he never talked much. Like Manuel, or they way she had been. She still didn't talk much but Manuel almost never talked and wouldn't even try to be an officer, so he was just a Lance like Daniel behind her.

Kole was moving suddenly. He had just been standing there not looking at anything, but then his face got real cold and he was moving. She looked around again but nothing else was happening.

He hurried over just behind Major Thomas then spoke loudly, in a cold voice to match his face. "All right, people. They're about to open the doors up. You've all been briefed on the plan, but just follow orders even if something else happens. , Major Thomas will oversee Captain Brown in command of Red Charlie First, except for platoon 1-9 which will be under my direct command. Major Rivia will be on the other side with her 10-90J.

"Major Rivia," he nodded over at her. She thought that he looked tired. "Major Thomas," another nod at the man beside him, "you both have my full

confidence." Her face tightened up a little and she thought she was going to have to swallow but just stood really still while he kept talking.

"Now, here's what I've been holding back until now. The enemy today are known as the Kortoi. Most times I won't be able to tell you that before the battle but this time is special. The Kortoi are a little bigger than us and they look kind of like salamanders. So soft skin and a little slimy. They are strong. They move fast over short distances. But they bleed when you poke them and they never use any real battle tactics. We will, so we will win."

He looked over at the doors they were standing in front of for just a second and then finished up really fast like something was happening. " each other and let's try to keep everyone alive. Fortune smile upon you."

The doors started opening as he finished talking.

Carmen almost jumped a little but held still. Kole was kind of freaky sometimes, but she was really glad that she spoke up for him. She had been a little mad at first when he didn't let them out of the cages but that made more sense now. The whole compound was safe for her, like her group with Charles but better. And she was a Major and got to fight for all humans everywhere.

Right now, she thought with a smile, feeling her body start to sing. She was watching Kole and then broke into motion when he waved a hand at her.

She trotted forward, snapping, "10-90J on me!" over her shoulder and went past Red Charlie First and out the big doors that were still opening toward them.

The inside looked just like their own compound but a lot bigger. She had to trot up a wide ramp but then saw they were off to one side of the middle of the walled space. Behind her the company was marching up the ramp, but her Fist followed her as she kept jogging forward toward another opening just like their own ramp.

Figures were starting to appear out of that other ramp.

She gauged the distance as she moved easily over the flat grass. Maybe two soccer fields between the ramps. That didn't seem like very much for the whole Legion but right now it was plenty. And they were almost in range of the slimy looking creatures. In the sunlight it looked like they had plastic wrap all over them and were kind of grayish. And they had tails.

She cut these thoughts short as they got close to javelin range, about half a soccer field. Dropping to a walk before stopping, she checked on her Fist.

Daniel stepped up beside her looking ready to throw and the others weren't far behind. "Major?"

She nodded sharply then checked the slow advance of the creatures. Right at her but that didn't matter yet. "Let them have a few, Lance. One each. Then we pull back."

"Yes, Major!" The Filipino man looked intense just then. He was the same height as her but had a lot more muscles. He cocked back a javelin as she stepped away

and continued to watch. "10-90J will fire one!" His arm blurred forward and the other four threw at almost the same time.

She didn't stay to watch them fall. That didn't matter now. Just said, "10-90J on me!" again and trotted back but at an angle to put them on the left flank of Red Charlie First.

The company was moving forward too, slow like the enemy but the distance was closing quickly. Over her shoulder she noticed shields being raised against the javelins. Made from hide just like hers, but a lot bigger. Red Charlie First had bigger shields than her Golds but not that big.

They weren't throwing anything back. And they were moving slow. She decided to make a change and swung a bit more to her right.

She called out to the oncoming company, high and sharp, "Gold will stand off left!" Reaching a point well off the oncoming enemy line, she slowed to a walk again and then stopped to watch. At her gesture the Fist lined up to her right, javelins ready.

The enemy were just walking past the six of them. She could see two bodies on the ground behind them. Some of them were watching her group and trying to bring their shields over to the right but they couldn't really. Were they all right handed?

There were shouts as the Company suddenly broke apart slightly into platoons. She saw platoon 1-9 swinging wide on the right with the figure of Kole walking between Manuel and Enkbat. Orders rang out and they halted, still half a soccer

field in front of the enemy, and suddenly javelins launched out from all four platoons.

Once, and the front of the enemy seemed to stutter almost to a halt before continuing. Not many were down but a lot got hit. They were raising shields and slowing down. Twice, and another flight of javelins from Red Charlie First. This time the enemy seemed to stop altogether.

After the second flight of javelins all four platoons broke into a slow trot with a shout, but she saw platoon 1-9 drifting further off to the right.

Then there was some shouting from the enemy, a lot of it, and they started to try to run forward but were getting tangled up with each other. They were all in one big bunch and the javelins had messed up the front of that.

Nice, she thought, then turned to Daniel.

"Hit them in the backs, Lance Fresno, as you please. to save one javelin apiece but you can use rocks too. And here, you take my spares." She handed her extra javelins to Daniel and he grinned at her before setting them down and turning to his Fist.

"10-90J will open fire!"

She turned her attention away from that and watched as platoons 1-5, 1-6, and 17 crashed into the enemy with another shout. Everybody was yelling at once and

the troopers seemed to draw back just a little after they hit and the enemy started to hit back. Captain Brown was yelling orders in a deep voice as the platoons drew together, locking shields into a wall.

There was another shout, then that wall pushed forward as each trooper took one step. Spears licked out, through gaps in the wall that closed again and also overhand from the second rank. Another shout, and the wall stepped forward again.

The…Kortoi seemed to be getting all bunched up with each other and the ones in front could hardly move as that shield wall ground into them and the spears stabbed out.

Then the ones in the back started to swing around the sides of the line, the ones that weren't dying from the Filipino fire. But platoons 1-5 and 1-7 were both curling back and in on the sides, even as the wall as a whole continued to push into the Kortoi.

She saw troopers fall, too. But the Kortoi must not be paying attention because platoon 1-9 just crashed right into the back of them. She saw Kole charge in on the left of that platoon, stabbing with his own spear between Manuel and Enkbat.

"Major?" Daniel waved a hand at her and she saw they each held one last javelin. They were all sweating, and so was she even though she didn't do much work yet.

She looked back at the fight for a moment and then pointed, "10-90J will charge right there, Lance Fresno. Don't stay there, just hit them and fall back and then

look for easy targets. Go!"

"Yes, Major! 10-90J on me!" With that the Fist all ran forward, most of them yelling excitedly.

Carmen slowly drifted forward after them. She thought about her rocks, but that wasn't really her job. Some troopers were down but a lot more of the Kortoi were. They seemed confused at being hit from all sides and were flailing in different directions but not very well. She saw one of them hitting the ones around it as it swung the spear around wildly like a club.

Then she picked one and threw her javelin. Got it, she thought as the throwing spear pierced its torso.

Then she threw a rock but the Kortoi still up suddenly broke and ran, trying to get out. They dropped their big shields and some of them dropped their spears too and they were pushing backwards at each other even as troopers continued to stab at them. Some of them broke free at the back and they moved really fast, tails jerking back and forth as they sprinted.

Her mouth dropped open as one of them bowled right over one of her group, maybe Ryan, but then tripped and fell and thrashed around before Daniel ran up and stabbed it.

She trotted forward even as this happened, thinking harrying is the task of the Gold Banners, but then Captain Brown was yelling out for them all to halt in place and she heard Kole yelling the same thing. She got to her fallen trooper but he was already up on his feet and trying to make a joke.

Daniel, looking half-crazy and with blood all over him that looked like the wrong color, turned to her and gasped out a report. "10-90J stands ready, Major. All present!" With that he bent over and started drawing in some deep breaths.

Carmen snapped back at him, "10-90J will hold in place!" even as she started moving again around to the Legion standard behind the pileup. All of the Kortoi nearby were down, though some were still being stabbed at by troopers.

Kole was standing next to the Legion standard and talking to Major Thomas. "Ser!" she called out, "Permission to harry the enemy!"

"Negative, Major," he replied in that empty voice he got sometimes. Kole pointed his hand out behind her and she turned to look. The last of the Kortoi were disappearing down their ramp. "This battle is done. Your casualty report?"

"Ser!" She drew herself up at attention as Major Thomas looked on. Captain Brown was a little ways away kneeling over one of his troopers and a lot of the other people around seemed to be helping wounded. Or finishing off the Kortoi. "No dead, no major injuries. Maybe little things but nothing big."

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "How many did we lose?"

He tried to smile at her a little, but to her he just looked kind of sad and empty. "We're still treating the wounded and getting things sorted out, but it looks like three dead so far. A lot more stab wounds, so I'm going to have to push hard for medical supplies tomorrow. Not so bad for the kind of fight this was."

His eyes unfocused and he seemed to be looking through her. "The Kortoi are individually strong but also clumsy and never seem to move past their traditional way of fighting." He nodded at the ramp the enemy had run down. "And they won't learn better from the survivors. The ones that ran are being killed right now. Automatic systems in the waiting room."

A hand waved back at their own ramp. "That big red triangle on top needs to turn blue before we can quit the field. The judges always wait a little while for things to settle out after the fighting stops completely."

She looked at the red triangle set in stone above the ramp, then looked around at the large expanse around them and the distant wall around the huge arena. "Ser, what if they ran somewhere else? This place goes on for miles…"

He gave her a real smile this time, seeming to come back to himself some more. "Then Gold Banner would be chasing them down, Major. Or whatever else works."

He sighed and looked around at the company still getting themselves organized. "But not this time. Looks like the Kortoi will remain on their reservation for the time being. Cut off from access to Center technology and knowledge."

She looked down at the nearest body for a moment, starting to see the strange shape as more than just another alien, but then shook her head and turned away. "10-90J will stand ready, Strategos."

"Major?"

She turned back, questioning.

"That was good work today with your people. As expected, you performed well."

"Thank you, ser. Strategos."

Then she turned quickly and trotted off again, past troopers and all the bodies. Time to look over the Fist and make sure they were all really ok.

She almost smiled but then she thought about the three troopers, maybe more, that wouldn't be going back to the compound with them.

Seventeen

He leaned on the spear.

Kole shuffled his feet a bit and stood waiting, as did every other person in the Legion not fighting today.

They were all gathered around a marked area in the center of the compound. Little nubs of white stone poked up out of the soil to form a rough oval around this patch of ground. He wondered momentarily whether it would be worth it to put up some bleachers or something. Probably not.

The oval was large enough that everyone could see in from the edges, with some crowding. And there would be fewer in here to watch as the Battles went on. It's not that bad standing to watch. He shuffled his feet a bit more to keep the blood flowing.

Five battles in now and he had finally let Alain take one while he stayed in charge behind. He let his gaze wander across the gathered people, kept in the groups of their formed units as they nearly always were.

In his Stillness, he could feel the Shard flows in the nubs of stone as they echoed a change in the flow through the wall around the compound. The projection field was coming up; it would begin soon.

These very early Battles were always the easiest. Victory for an organized force like the Legion was not really in question, despite the primitive armaments. They were still using stone, as the Liseli Emissary had permitted them to graduate between different types of rock for their weapons, but he was hopeful that after this Battle they could start using metal. Copper, maybe, for the next Battle.

The Battles for this sequence of five had been spaced out at one per week, but there would be a gap of four weeks break after they won this fight. He occasionally wondered at the Center week being seven days like on Earth but didn't really care why it was so.

It would be really nice if they could get past stone. Knapping flint or other stone had turned out to be both tedious and difficult to accomplish correctly. At least we have plenty of leftover pieces.

In case they might be useful for something. Everything, except water and the dirt and grass of the compound, had to come through the Liseli so there was no wastage when possible and everything was recycled in some way.

It was starting. The Shard flows through the stone sharpened and danced in time to a greater thrum from the compound walls.

The light in the compound dimmed, though the sun was nearly overhead, and the view within the oval of stone began to be replaced. A miniature terrain formed, glowed into existence, and he could make out the shapes of the opposing ramps with their cowls of stone. Still around four hundred yards between ramps, as they had been moved to for that second Battle when the numbers increased to two hundred fighters per side.

The view felt strange to him. He could feel the flows of Shard power, the fields of energy within the stone oval, to for the coherent light of the holograms formed within. But he could also feel a strange participation within his own mind from the subtly shifting field of the great walls of the compound, separate from the normal Stillness but similar.

People elsewhere who were able to watch the Battles usually made do with holograms alone. He had set up the Mirror back at Starfall Keep in its own big chamber so that those of the Keep would know he was alive and still fighting. But the people able to watch in one of these great compounds were granted a particularly vibrant experience of the Battles.

Ok, this is intense. We do need some bleachers in here.

Figures were marching up both of the ramps. His feeling of immersion was such that the smaller figures in the oval were becoming more real than those lined up around it to watch. The oval was largish, as it had to be to offer a spatial view of an entire battlefield, but the eye of his mind seemed to transpose until the oval felt larger than the entirety of their own compound.

He nudged himself within the Stillness and let the feeling recede a bit, buffering himself against the fields playing across the compound and into his mind, and let his gaze drift around.

The people gathered around him and lined up around the oval seemed completely engrossed, staring to the point that they were barely blinking. He nodded to himself a bit before going fully back into the simulation. This helped to explain how intense the change in motivation had been after that first battle, how committed the thousands of troopers left behind at the compound had become.

They were almost in the fight themselves, or felt as though they were. They were being conditioned in ways that he alone could not hope to accomplish.

Alain had his two Gold platoons swinging wide to flank the enemy or break up any flankers they sent out. Each of the Gold troopers would have a personal weapon of choice, many still with javelins but some armed with simple bows.

Kole hoped to eventually get some troopers trained up able to use slings effectively in battle, but it was a difficult weapon to master and that might take years. The handful of bow troopers all had prior experience, but almost no one on Earth had trained in the sling anymore.

He smiled as the bows started to open up on the enemy from either flank, and were ed by several troopers in each Gold platoon who were effectively using spear throwers to increase their range. This enemy was staying all in one group, though a roughly organized one. Some of them were throwing spears back at the Gold platoons but the range was too long and they fell short.

The Line platoons marched steadily forward. Company Green Echo Third and two platoons of Green Echo Fourth. There was a small knot of larger figures, Tank troopers, back around Alain and Tucker with the Legion standard.

The heavies would act as bodyguards and a last reserve, but for now Strategos and Commandant both wanted to keep as many of them alive and uninjured as possible. Casualties had been light thus far, just seven dead and eight very badly injured, mostly Line with a few Gold, but truly large and strong humans were rare, as rare as Tank troopers in the legion, and they might not get any more of them at all.

Kole snorted to himself as he watched the combatants march slowly closer together. Gold had dropped back some to save ammunition for now. The Liseli were not willing to supply replacements yet and would not be for some time.

It had been made clear to him that each replacement would be costly to procure and transport and that he had best make do with what he had for many battles to come. Never mind that he himself needed time to train and integrate any new personnel.

He felt ambiguous about the 'procurement' process, but reminded himself again that it was for the greater good and that each trooper in the Legion had been given a choice. Sort of. The greater good. If he managed to stay alive and pull this whole thing off.

The Line platoons were spreading out to match the line presented by the enemy. A cluster of the enemy gathered on each flank to face off against the Gold platoons, but if they were smart they wouldn't try to chase after them.

This enemy was vaguely humanoid and somewhat lumbering. And no, not very smart. The side clusters were charging out at Gold even as Gold retreated and swung around behind the enemy line, letting fly more ammunition. The side clusters threw javelins but were still mostly too far to reach.

Apparently those were the only enemy with javelins, as two full flights arched out from the Terran line, two hundred and forty stone tipped javelins in all, with no answer from the enemy.

The Green Echo platoons charged in right after and carved in to the disarrayed enemy line before settling back into the meat grinder routine of the Legion. Stone-tipped spears licked in and out while large and slightly concave shields slid over and back or crunched down on exposed feet or up into faces. All the while a steady push was kept up, a steady compression of proud warriors into helpless tangled bundles of limbs and flesh.

Bless Lord Ainat for being an idiot and letting me have epoxy. Kole smiled grimly as he watched the organized slaughter. The Line shields of the Legion were particular, after the Roman style, and were the big reason why casualties had been kept so low after that first battle with hide shields over wooden frames.

Despite a doubling of the combatants.

These were still just wood wrapped with leather, but they were made with strips of laminated wood, not solid pieces. Glued with epoxy and with any gaps filled with epoxy mixed with wood flour. Which in some ways was stronger than the actual wood. So the shields were both lighter and stronger than solid wood.

The Vanyr didn't do much with involved chemical industries and their manufacturing relied heavily on whole-piece extrusion. Ainat had seen little difference between the epoxy and any other glue.

But for Kole it meant they got highly sophisticated better-than-Roman technology while still kept back in the stone age in of other materials. Even with less than a week to make them up for the second battle. The Emissary was somewhat mystified but pleased at the low casualties and fast victories.

Maybe I'll be able to get us some aramid fabric at some point. Or even fiberglass. Many of the shields still needed to be somewhat rebuilt after each battle, but they were worth it. Metal reinforcement would help some with that, but synthetic fiber laminates would help more.

Spears were breaking on both sides and stone tips were shattering. The Legion grimly fought on and the enemy was getting desperate as their fighting numbers steadily dwindled.

In the background the enemy side clusters had actually run into each other as the Gold platoons slid smoothly past one another to reverse sides. Arrows and an occasional javelin still flew out, at the backs of the enemy line or at the now tangled side clusters, but most of the Gold were down to rocks as missiles at this point.

The rest ed quickly and with no real surprises. This group had to be killed to the last humanoid before the Battle ended and the fighting Legion slowly marched back into the waiting room past the blue-lit signal. They carried the dead and wounded on their shields.

As the last figure disappeared down the ramp their own compound simulation ended and the full light of the sun came back down upon them.

Troopers were blinking back to themselves all around the oval, but Kole was already calling out to his staff to bring up the speaking platform. He clipped the amplifier to his collar and hopped on up as soon as it settled in place. The spear got set down on the platform before he started. It was just smooth wood with a blackened tip at the point, a leftover from the preparations for the first Battle, but he liked having it for now as a reminder.

"The Legion will hold position!" His voice echoed out and all talk stilled as every figure in sight turned to face him. "In a few minutes you will be dismissed to your Banners for any further duties, but right now I have a few words in review after this Battle."

He let a brief pause stretch out after that, but not a full twenty heartbeats. This was an informal address. "The platoons of the Green Echo Banner fought well, as expected. The Gold Delta platoons also. Tank Banner and the officers all did their duty today. I say of them now and will tell them all later—well done."

He paused to raise his arms and let a little noise come up before dropping them again.

"But these five battles were our easiest fights, and they are behind us now."

A pause, while he let his smile slip and his face turn grim. "The sky was clear and the battle was fought on a flat field of open grass. As with the first four. But in the Battles to come the terrain of the arena will be changed. We will fight on mountainsides. In the sand. In a forest or in a city.

"The weather will be changed. We will fight in the rain. In darkness. In a blizzard or a thunderstorm or anything else that the judges want to throw at us. The enemy will be stronger, smarter, faster. Better organized and with better weapons.

"We will be fighting these Battles for years to come and every cycle will put

more of the Legion on the field at once. Facing more of the enemy. This fight was easy, as all of our fights have been so far. But do not think they will always be so. Troopers died today and more will die every Battle. We must be ready. We must not grow overconfident."

He smiled at them again after another short pause, broadly this time, and settled his hands on his hips with elbows spread out. "But for tonight we celebrate a battle won. Humans across the Center enjoy a little more status, a little more protection, as paid for by the blood of the Legion. Duties will be light and most will have none. Hail the returning victors when they arrive and congratulate them. We have managed some little entertainment and enjoy that as you may, but above all relax and enjoy the rest of the day. The Legion has earned a rest."

With that he dropped into a firmer stance and called out to dismiss them to Banners before hopping down from the platform. Command Majors were organizing their own formations even as his staff Majors gathered around him.

The rest of that day ed slowly for him. Mostly he kept to the background and waved away any attempts at formality. The Commandant returned with his victorious troopers, who were greeted with cheers by those waiting. Kole moved around that to get the butcher's bill.

There were two dead and eleven wounded, only three seriously. The Liseli had provided them with some stone tubs after that first Battle, which he knew were the type used to grow the Tegma and for other purposes.

In this case they were configured for injury mitigation and tissue regrowth. At no charge, as they were required by the rules of the Battles, but Ainat had made it out to be a generous contribution for which Kole and all the Terrans should be grateful. Which he acted like was true, keeping to his role and gritting his teeth

in a smile at the arrogant prick.

The tubs did work wonders. One trooper had lost most of his arm in the third Battle and it was actually growing back, though very slowly. They didn't draw all that much Shard power and to Kole felt similar to the accelerated growth crystals back in the Keep Growth Chambers, but for the Legion they meant that all eleven of these wounded should survive to fight again. For the Legion the tubs meant a chance at victory despite coming years of Battle attrition.

Singing had started up on the Corner Stage, backed by their few rough instruments, mostly drums, when Kole disappeared into his own tent and out of the twilight glow of evening. He meditated on the day, on the past, and also on the morrow to come, before wrapping himself in a rough wool blanket and lying down on the crude pallet on the ground to sleep.

***

He was up early as usual, eyes popping open just before the voices of sergeants started calling out to their troopers. The camp bustled as chores were tasked and units were cycled through the mess, but according to the custom he had developed everyone ignored him as he quietly ate breakfast and otherwise prepared himself before moving over toward the gate and the open-sided meeting tent.

There were actual chairs under there now, with arm rests and hanging canvas seats, and he sat down to wait until the large grey doors appeared out of the smooth wall and began to open. At that Kole rose to his feet and took a stance just outside the tent, standing straight with hands clasped before him.

Tegma marched in, maybe two hundred of them in full battle order. Though for all that it was a tenth the force that Ainat had brought for the first negotiating session. That initial mass of troops had decreased every time until it settled down to this modest escort.

A few Tegma bodyguards to fluff up the status of the Emissary. Kole could almost think that the timid prick had come to trust him.

That worthy had brought along the now usual advisor group this time as well. Just Steward Yleissa and a Svart functionary to order the Tegma around. The older male Svart stayed with the Tegma forming up around the tent as Yleissa trailed Ainat over to Kole. Her face remained as blank and unreadable as always, while Ainat sported a condescending smile directed at the Strategos.

Who bowed over his clasped hands as the Vanyr lord stopped in front of him. "Honored Emissary, welcome again to our compound." A hand swept over in a gesture. "Would you care to be seated while we talk?"

"Certainly, Smith. Let us sit together." With that the Vanyr completed what had become something of a ritual beginning to these sessions, at least after the stools were replaced, and moved over to a chair. Yleissa trailed behind and took up her place to one side, while Kole waited for the Vanyr to sit before resuming his own seat. Then he waited for the Vanyr to speak while keeping an attentive expression on his face.

"Another victory, Smith. Well done. Your Terran methods have proven quite successful over the first cycle. Though I did notice that you yourself were absent this Battle. Was there a good reason for that?" The words came out somewhat stilted as though following a script, but the face stayed calm and those dull red eyes stayed focused on Kole.

Who leaned forward slightly in his chair, face open. "Further training, Lord Ainat. Especially for my second in command, the Legion Commandant. I intend to lead most Battles myself, but estimated that this fight would not be a great challenge and so took the opportunity to view the Battle from here in the compound. I had not yet been able to do so."

"Hmmm." The Vanyr glanced briefly at his Steward and then stated coldly. "So long as you do not grow overconfident. I am pleased at your easy victories and so is Family Liseli. Ensure that the pattern continues."

A seated bow. "I will do so, Emissary."

The Vanyr sniffed. "Good."

He then shifted his demeanor again, offering a broad false smile. "And since we are all pleased, we have chosen to fulfill more of your requests. Luxuries for your compound are being piled by the gate as we speak. Various woods and other crafting and building supplies. Even some stone blocks, though as I told you those are costly to transport. Rolls of cloth and fabric in the requested colors, with threading. Perhaps now you can have your servants make you some better clothes. There is some more of that Terran glue you wanted. More wood. And a few other things. The standard food supplies and necessities are also there."

Kole offered his own smile in return and nodded. "I thank you, Emissary. The Liseli are most kind."

He avoided thoughts about his clothing as he spoke. It was clean, but heavily mended. Bone needles had been provided and he didn't ask where from. Many of the troopers were just using canvas fabrications for clothes at this point and the cloth would be very welcome. It meant uniforms and new Banner standards and having fresh clothing to wear. Towels for the showers. So many things. And the prick considered them all luxuries to be withheld until a full cycle of Battles had been won.

The Vanyr leaned forward a bit as well, stroking one hand down his robe. "Now. I understand that you want metals for your weapons and other things. As I have told you, these things are expensive and difficult to procure. There is also a review process the Liseli must submit to through the Center bureaucracy. Those people are not pleasant to deal with. But we have managed to get some through for you. A bit of copper. You will be bringing five hundred Terrans to the next cycle of Battles, but if you are frugal this should be enough to arm each of them and maybe for some protective gear."

The thin man pointed a lazy finger at Kole with the other hand. "I don't know about the other metals you wanted. Iron, yes. After the next cycle, if you continue to perform to standard, then we will provide you with some of your Terran iron. A distasteful metal, but the Battles are used to prove your history and you Terrans have used iron for almost everything you could."

Kole brought his hands together in a prayerful attitude, seizing once more on the Vanyr Emissary's tendency to pedantic speeches to help insert his own twist. "Lord Ainat. You are well versed in our history. So you must also know that bronze, copper alloys, were prominent for human use for even longer than was iron. And that many war practices rested heavily on bronze. If we simply move from copper to iron much of our battle history will remain unproven."

"Hmmm." Ainat glanced at Yleissa, who bent forward to whisper in his ear. "Yes, yes."

He waved her back and then turned once more to Kole. "Very well. Tin and aluminum will also be provided."

A thin finger rose up and then wagged at Kole. "But in that case you will be fighting for two cycles at least with the bronze. And no lead or antimony or tungsten or titanium or vanadium or the others. Terrans may have used them for bronze at some point, but my advisors tell me that copper and tin was common and will work just fine. Copper and aluminum will be inferior to that but you can have it if you want it. We might also get you some nickel later. Plenty of that lying around in those coins you Terrans used for trading."

Kole bowed his head. Keeping his minor surge of triumph at getting the aluminum through to himself. Nickel would be very nice also. "Thank you, Lord Ainat. You are doubtless correct about the other metals. Our own historical sources are somewhat confused on the matter. Perhaps later you will consider allowing us to mix some of them with iron, to reproduce certain historical weapons."

A lofty glance. "Yes, well. The Liseli are here to assist you Terrans in fighting the Battles with your historical weaponry. Confusing as the matter is to us and apparently also to yourselves.

"Mind you, however." A very stern, almost angry look came over that thin face. "You will take great care not to pollute your surroundings working with the metals. Charcoal and coal will be delivered as well, and a bit more stone and the sand you want for casting, but you will keep things clean and tidy here in your compound. All wastes will be gathered and isolated. Is that clear?"

Kole bowed forward as low as possible while seated. Coming back up, he said, "It will be done, Emissary. My orders are for the compound to be kept as clean as possible. Terrans have learned hard lessons about pollution and I personally fully agree with these standards of the Center."

The stare remained, but shifted from stern up to disapproving. "Yes, well, see to it. I could not believe some of the things you barbarians had done to your own lands. To the waters! It will take the Center of Unity decades to clean up, and at great cost. Centuries for some of it. I suspect that your pollution habits were the main reason that the Anu finally permitted us to bring your Realm into the Center.

"Not that such will be permitted any longer…" That head tilted slightly. "There were just a couple more points for today…" Yleissa leaded forward to whisper again, upon receiving another glance. "Yes, of course."

He turned back to Kole, lounging in the seat. "Are you certain that you want livestock brought in? There are plenty of the beasts wandering about in Realm Terra, but collecting them and transporting them will not be inexpensive. Which will cut into the luxuries you will be supplied with. What's wrong with the food you are provided with? It will be more work to butcher them yourselves anyway."

Kole offered another smile after this wandering speech, puzzled and condescending in turn. "Quite certain, Lord Ainat."

He spread his hands apologetically. "For many of the Terrans here the food from livestock is a luxury, despite the extra work. And of course the beasts will furnish other useful materials."

Please, please, please. Animal hide and tendons were useful for spear bindings and certain other things. If they got enough stock they could even do some breeding for ongoing supplies. There was plenty of grass. And loaf for extra feed, green loaf here instead of his own more imaginative rainbow loaf.

"Many of the Terrans here have been farmers and will be happy to husband the animals."

"Yes, well, no ing for taste, I suppose. I will send the order out," with a languid nod over at Yleissa.

Then a slight smile stole upon that face, one that actually looked natural if not exactly wholesome. "There is one final matter for today. We Liseli have discussed this and decided that you in particular have been very helpful. Displaying excellent traits. So we have another gift, just for you, to show you how very much we appreciate your continued efforts."

At this Yleissa stepped over to the side of the open tent and called out in her ionless voice. "Bring her."

A human woman was escorted out of the ranks of Tegma from where she had been concealed behind them.

She was a picture.

Long shining blonde hair. Heart shaped face. Wearing a filmy almost dress that reminded Kole of something Mari had worn only inside the private chambers at the Keep. The full, even lush figure was not so much contained within the negligee as it was accentuated by it.

He swallowed. This won't go over well with the Legion. Who were mostly men and mostly frustrated at this point. But can I say no?

He kept his face in the same expression as he slowly stood up by his chair, but drew upon the Stillness to quiet his own tangled emotions. The troopers weren't the only ones getting frustrated at this point. The near constant physical exercise of training helped, but he got less of that than most of the others. The all-cold showers and baths helped more.

His thoughts raced along, but in the end he said nothing besides, "I thank the Liseli, and you, Lord Ainat. A most generous gift."

The Emissary rose as well with that little smile, somewhere between a leer and a smirk, remaining in place.

"Well, I think we can leave the two of you to get acquainted. Until tomorrow, Smith." With that the Vanyr strode off, Yleissa and the Svart with him and the Tegma all around.

Kole stood there silently watching as they left through the gates, until those leaves had closed and smooth white stone flowed back over them. It was possible that the Liseli could tap into the Fields of the compound walls to surveil the interior, but just based on Ainat's behavior he had his doubts that they

bothered to do so often or in detail. As yet at least.

There were piles of materials just inside the gates, as promised. He finally looked over at the woman that had moved up beside him as he stood there watching. She smiled at him, fluttering blonde lashes over cornflower blue eyes.

"Do you speak English?" he asked.

She put a hand out to draw her fingers along his sleeve near the shoulder, pushing the breast on that side a bit further out as she did.

"Yes, Lord," she murmured softly at him in English with an inviting look, before shifting languages, "and the Standard speech, of course."

He nodded, not moving otherwise as he looked at her. "Good. Your name?"

In the Stillness he could feel a faint pulse of Shard power flowing through a line of three small crystals embedded on the underside of her sternum, and thought he had some idea of their purposes from the feel of them.

"Disa, Lord. Do I please you?" She let her mouth stay open a touch as she finished speaking, then moved both hands to cup her own breasts and arch her back, as if offering them to him. She stood maybe six inches shorter than he, and favored him with an entreating look up through her eyelashes as she posed.

He moved fully into the Stillness, deeper than he had been since the last days of the trek to St. Louis. His emotions quieted, all of them, and the world grew sharper and slower.

"You please me well enough, Disa. But I want you to stop touching yourself, or me, like that in public."

He leaned forward to look directly into her eyes as she dropped her hands, seemingly surprised, and relaxed her posture. "You are with the Terran Legion now, and everyone here has a job to do. Your job will not involve having sex. With anyone. Is that clear?"

The surprised look had faded to the beginnings of puzzlement, but she smiled again at him, gamely. "Yes, Lord. I will have a job here, and not sex."

There was a pulse from the crystals in her chest, faint in his Stillness but there when he concentrated.

"Good. Please follow me." He turned to walk over to the gathered staff who were standing there watching the two of them.

Gaping, in some cases. Tucker might have been drooling.

Carmen was there today, one of the Staff Majors. Perfect. Or maybe not. She looked like she might have steam coming out of her ears.

Now if I can just turn this around…

"Good morning, Commandant, Majors. Centurion Tucker." He stressed the last rank as he spoke, looking hard at Tucker, who closed his mouth with a wary look back at Kole.

The command officers had all gone into a salute, but he looked around for a moment before returning it. Most of the troopers had work, but some the Green Banners were on stand-down for the morning and some of those were drifting towards the command group, watching. Word traveled fast when there was little to do but watch things and gossip.

He returned the salute and spoke to cut off Alain who was starting to say something, face blank but with a concerned look in his eyes. The Strategos let his voice go out loudly, loud enough that some of the gathering troopers would hear.

"Something a little different today, Commandant. The Liseli have told me that at some point we will have a full base establishment here, with civilian personnel. To help us get ready for that, Disa here," he gestured at her, turning to check what she was doing. Standing too close to him still, but there was no help for that now and she was just standing there. Still looking puzzled. "Will be helping to get that started. She's been sent on ahead to help figure out how best we can set things up."

He turned to Carmen, still letting his voice carry. "Major Rivia, I'm glad to see you on staff today." Carmen stared back at him from her formal posture, eyes hot. "I want you to help get Disa settled. With the female officers for now, but in time we will need separate accommodations for her and the other civilians."

He gestured over toward the gate. "New building supplies have come in to help us get started with that. Cloth also, finally, for uniforms and such."

He let his voice drop to just their own group. "Are your orders clear, Major? I also want you to help get Disa some better clothes. She'll freeze around here just wearing that."

Some of the heat had faded from those Latina eyes as he spoke, but there was still anger burning within. "Yes, Ser, Strategos. Do you want us to go now?"

"Not just yet, Major."

Turning back to Alain, he let his voice grow loud again. "I gather that they'll want most of the civilian personnel to be women, Commandant. To help keep things balanced here in the compound. I shouldn't wonder if a few of those women, maybe more than a few, might want to marry a trooper. Things like that happen in wartime, which is all that we have right now. Of course, we need to win more Battles first. Maybe several cycles worth. Have to prove that we're worth the expense.

"And Commandant?" It was not really a question as Kole cued Alain with his eyes and a slight nod.

"Yes, Strategos?"

"I don't want to hear any talk about prostitutes or comfort women or any of that nonsense. That's not how we do things in this Legion. The Terran Legion is better than that. Rules have been set out about consent and expected behavior, but I want that to be stressed again to every trooper. I'll hang a trooper for rape before I take him into Battle with me."

He let the last statement ring out louder and as cold as he could make it.

The Commandant paused, looking grave, before acknowledging. The staff Majors, except for Carmen, all seemed to draw back a little from Kole.

"Understood, Ser. I will see to it."

"Good," Kole nodded and flashed a smile at him and then around at the staff Majors. "Major Rivia, if I might have a private word before you go?"

He stepped away from the group with a gesture at Carmen, ing the last thing he had said directly to Disa and wanting to see what the new woman did. She followed close and he found her right behind him as he turned back to look at her and the staff Major.

"Major Rivia, there are a few more things you should know about Disa. And why I want you to look after her. Despite what I just said to everyone, I think it's pretty clear why they sent her in here?"

She nodded, still keeping a formal distance, still with that buried anger in the

back of her eyes. "Yes, Ser. As a slut for you. Or maybe for all the men, I don't know."

Kole kept an eye on Disa as the young Major spoke, still deep in the Stillness with the world moving slow. Which made conversations seem difficult but he could manage.

The slightest shiver ed across the skin of the new woman after the harsh words laid out by the other woman, but he felt one of the crystals in her chest pulse and she just stood watching him and smiling.

He nodded to himself.

"Not quite, Major. Disa, do you want to have sex with me?"

A single pulse from the second crystal. "Oh, yes Lord. That would make me happy." The smile got wider but she did not otherwise behave as she had earlier. Since he told her not to.

He looked over at Carmen again and arched his brow, giving her a look meant to get her to start thinking, then back at the new woman.

"If I told you to have sex with every man in this compound, would you do it?"

A shiver crossed her skin, matched with a stronger pulse from the first crystal.

"Lord? I will if you wish me to." The smile did slip a bit with that.

He leaned in to within a few inches of her face, not far considering how close she stood to him. "I want to know if you would like that. Would you?"

The second crystal pulsed strongly. She shook her head slightly and then her smile grew again as she looked at him. "I want to do anything that you ask me to do, Lord."

He took one step back and looked over at the Major again, standing there now with an uncertain look on her face, or maybe a little sickened as she gazed at the other woman.

One more test, for the third crystal. Something Ainat had said about traits piqued his interest at the time and this might confirm it. "Would you like to have a child with me, Disa?"

Immediately both the second crystal and the third and last gave out a strong pulse together. Her face lit up and she grinned at him. "Oh, yes Lord. Please."

A shy look down before she smiled at him again, wide and bright. "I have never had a child and I would like one, your child, more than anything. Will you give me one?"

"Perhaps, Disa," he said, gentle now that he was certain. "I want to think about that for a while. For now, I want you to go with Major Rivia here."

He looked back over to nod at Carmen, whose mouth was hanging open in a horrified expression. "Major Rivia? Carmen."

She closed her mouth and shook herself, coming back to a formal stance. "Ser?"

"I want you to look after her because of that. You understand well enough?" At her hesitant nod he continued.

"Get her some better clothes and a place to sleep, but also talk to her about what skills she might have, what job she might do here in the compound. A good job, but one that will help out the Legion.

"And I do also want you to work with her about how to organize a civilian group. Mostly of women. There are mostly men in the Legion, by no choice of mine, and I need to work with what we have. Understood?"

She looked more certain then, that intelligent face clearing up, and he looked back to Disa again. "Disa, I have some instructions for you before you go. Ok? I want you to do everything that Major Rivia asks you to do, but no one else except for me. Is that ok?"

Her first crystal pulsed and she nodded at him. "As you wish, Lord. Will I see you later?" The second and third crystals both pulsed faintly with the question.

"You'll see me again soon, Disa. But I also want to ask you not to have sex with

anyone, even me or Carmen here and any kind of sex at all, until I say that it's ok. Sorry to ask that but circumstances require it. Will you do that for me?"

With this the second and third crystals seemed to give out negative pulses, but the first crystal pulsed stronger to override them. She frowned, briefly, but then smiled at him again. "Of course, Lord. I will see you later."

He nodded and looked around for a moment before moving on. Some troopers were still watching the three of them but not many. The staff group stood silent and waiting.

"Dismissed, then, Major. This will be your staff duties for today at least. Goodbye for now Disa, and what I said." They each gave their own acknowledgment to his words as he walked back toward the staff group.

Lord save me. He knew that Unity law forbade altering the will of intelligent entities, but the linked crystals put into Disa didn't actually do that from what he could tell. They gave suggestions, though strong ones. One for behavior and one for desire and the third probably altered her hormonal balances and fed into certain instincts.

They didn't actually break the law, but they did come within a hair of doing so, especially considering that young Disa had probably been trained to listen to the impulses and otherwise had her natural will weakened.

The bastards. He could only assume that the practice was widespread, and had to work to smooth his expression as he got back to Alain and the staff for the business of the day. Four weeks to the next Battle and there was much to do. If

they couldn't win every Battle then these things might never change.

Eighteen

Jorlin border keep under the Banka Strait. Early evening.

Cassandra leaned forward on the hard stone bench and pretended to be as engrossed in the spectacle as was the man beside her.

Her eyes slanted over at him to gauge his ongoing mood, showing out clearly to her in his posture and the expressive curves of his face. Just like a fan at a football match, the thought came.

She had observed some such males in her time, though more usually through instrumentation than directly like this.

The large holographic display in the center of the artificial cavern of the viewing room currently provided the primary illumination for the chamber. There were also dimmed lights along the walls and down the staired aisles, and up above the diffuse glow of the nearby waters crept through the flattened transparent dome just at the very top of the cavern, but for now the complex hologram of the spectacle on display was brightest.

But how barbaric, she then thought, her eyes slanting back over to the hologram. At least with football all ofthe athletes survive.

As she viewed, the tiny figures of people arranged in formations crept closer to each other, though a scattering of others were already throwing things back and forth between the main bodies of the larger formations.

Seeming to her presence, Julius Parker, specialist in electromagnetic interactions and the main reason for her current attendance here in what had become a regularly occurring ritual for most of the outpost inhabitants, spoke up excitedly.

"You see? This time the skirmishers are being met before they can harass the main body of the defenders. And the terrain, while flat, is sand instead of grass."

He put one hand on her back and pointed with the other, as though that might aid her understanding of the contest. "The challenge increases every cycle of five battles. This is the last battle of the third cycle, battle fifteen, and looks to be the most difficult contest yet. It's also raining, which might actually help the footing on sand, but reduces visibility for the combatants."

He mostly seemed interested, other than in the impending bloodshed, in having someone to share his enthusiasm with.

That is fair, she thought. He will have my company at this event and I will get information that I want in return.

She let a smile cross her face as she partially turned toward him. He need not know just what she was amused at. Though he was staring so hard at the hologram that he did not seem to notice her effort.

"Yes, Julius. And there appear to be a full thousand fighters on each side, as you told me before. That means that the battles are lasting longer, not so?"

He nodded several times, smiling broader and still staring fixedly.

"Right, a thousand each. Makes for a much better fight even than the five hundred they had last cycle. And we're starting to get a better idea of the Terran forces organizational structure, too, with the flags and the groupings they use on the field…" The words trailed off and his expression went a little slack.

Glancing back over, she saw that the people on the simulated field had come right up next to each other, so that the formations had mostly become one great big pushing, shoving mass.

At least the non-human side was. The clarity of the hologram was startling, even at a distance, and she could make out the individual four-armed xeno figures of the human opponents. Most of them were not up in the immediate fighting yet, but the ones in the back were all waving double swords in the air with their top arms while the bottom arms braced on the figure in front of them to help push forward.

She frowned, watching that push continue almost without interruption into the human center.

"Are they having trouble already? It looks like they are not able to stop them from moving forward."

"Hmmmm…" He actually turned his head to frown back at her, then turned back to watch the match some more.

Suddenly the frown became a full grin as he turned back and forth between her and the match, both arms waving in broad gestures. "No, you see! It's a pincer! The center lets themselves get pushed back while the flanks move forward to envelope the enemy! Someone on the human side re Cannae, or Marathon!"

She let herself observe the match more closely, with the man beside her fully occupied by his own enthusiasm.

Indeed it seemed to be a deliberate stratagem, with the humans still being pushed steadily backwards but only in the middle.

Meanwhile, the human figures on each side were shoving out and around their sexta-limbed opponents. Probably the xeno opponents could not tell on the flat field, but she could see that larger proportions of the humans were grouped on the sides than in the thinner middle, which allowed them to spread around the beleaguered xenos on the sides trying to hold them back.

Suddenly organization seemed to fail and the four-armed xenos were no longer working together but instead all turning to face their immediate threats. She relaxed and sat back a bit.

It must be almost over now. Though the human figures were not letting them run

away but suddenly were even more active, in a full ring now around the xenos and forcing them ever inward to compress them against each other. She turned her head away from the bloody spectacle and back to her companion, who sat with a satisfied expression on his face as he continued to stare.

Probably he would want to talk a bit more about the match. "It was well done, was it not?"

He nodded, not looking at her and seemingly engrossed in the ongoing slaughter. "Very well done. And matched to the alien physiology. Those double arms help them to mass their strength together in a good push. Whoever is leading the humans either saw that or they guessed well."

Perhaps a bit more, before switching topics. A glance at the hologram showed her that the senseless violence continued. "There is no information on the individual human fighters, or on the leadership? You told me that they give out information about the fighting, about the Hundred Battles."

He pursed his lips and watched for a few more moments before shifting his body to nearly face her across the stone of the long bench.

"No, no, we can ask about the rules and about past iterations of the Battles, but nothing about the current participants is given out. So we know that the defenders today are known as Chuutucha, but nothing about the humans but what we can see. Or from the previous Battles."

He looked back over at the hologram, still going, but seemed to find her more interesting now than the spectacle. "It might be years until we find out, if they

keep winning."

She nodded. "I hope they do, of course. I am informed that the results will impact our legal status within the Center."

Favoring him with a cheerful smile, she was about to change topics to more important matters when something in the hologram caught her eye and the smile faltered. "Julius, are those people looting the bodies of the dead?"

He turned himself back to the hologram, somewhat ponderously, before turning back to her.

"Noticed that, have you? They started doing that in the second cycle, Battle six, right when they transitioned into using metals. There's something in the rules about all raw materials being supplied by a sponsor, so there might be some artificial scarcity going on. Anyway there isn't anything that we can find in the rules about found materials, so maybe it's a gray area. They do all have metal armor now, which looks to be bronze."

The whole matter seemed distasteful to her, so she segued into the more important topic—the primary reason for her attendance.

"Ah, I see. Thank you. But you also said we could talk about the E-M disruption effect of the Shard fields. I am very interested to hear more about what you are learning in your area of expertise."

Some of the people around them were leaving now, but quite a crowd yet remained as others stayed to converse. Julius came out with a more artificial smile than during the match proper, causing her to draw back a bit mentally though she did not move her body.

"Certainly I can discuss a few things. And later if you want we can talk about your own observations. To do with the water cleanup, right? Perhaps over dinner?"

"Perhaps, Julius. I often eat alone but dinner with friends is nice also." She arched an eyebrow. "Will you just give me a summation of your thoughts on the matter? My focus was always on astrophysics so I never learned much about smaller scale electromagnetic field interactions, beyond the basics."

"Ok then." He continued a somewhat fixed smile at her for a moment and nodded, before his eyes drifted up over her head and went unfocused.

"They don't really tell me anything important either, but I have been able to put together a few things. My working theory is that we actually have the aether now." His eyes looked back at her and his expression became expectant as he waited for a response.

Though she found the mannerisms annoying and reminiscent of all too many older male professors, she played along and supplied her part of the dialogue. "The aether, as in the old theory about a medium for light to travel through?"

"Exactly! Well, not exactly, but I think it's close enough anyway." He nodded at her happily while he trotted out what apparently was a pet theory.

"So what we have now is an artificially imposed but stable field effect, a new medium surrounding the earth. Which interacts mostly with magnetics and electrical currents, but in a broad manner so everything within the field is impacted. You will have noticed the biological and atmospheric impacts, of course?"

Patiently now, she helped him get on with it. "Yes. I often spend time in the domes and watch the altered biota. And I have discussed the changes in clouds and weather movements with some atmospheric specialists. The climate is regressing to a more placid state and is more like the holocene, but even calmer, than the more recent period of the anthropocene."

"Just so! This provides us with evidence in nature of what we already know in of human electrical use. The Center field effect, the aether if you will, suppresses free waveforms and even the flow of free electricity along a conductor. Because the medium alters the natural conditions in which those processes formerly took place!"

She nodded at him encouragingly but did not speak. Perhaps he would fill in the logic gaps if she let him continue.

Which he did, rubbing his hands together. "So radio waves are subsumed into the aether directly. Transmissions are simply swallowed up. As for wired electronics, there would not normally be an actual flow of electricity anyway. Instead there is a local cascade effect, sort of like with a line of dominoes. The aether subsumes a bit of the energy involved in that so that the cascade is interrupted, is all. There must be some sort of drawback to complete the cycle and permit molecular stability, but some energy is siphoned off."

He spread his hands at her, ostensibly looking around at the Center tech marvels that surrounded them. "And where do you suppose all this siphoned energy is going?"

"To power the Center technology, if you are correct. But our brains also rely on electrical transmission, Julius. That would seem to poke a hole in your theory."

She kept this criticism mild, glad to be getting somewhere. Theories about the physics of the invasion abounded within the outpost but she was talking to Julius about the matter because he was a specialist in the area.And presumably could ask things from the Jorlin database that she could not.

"Ah hah! But that is the other part of our observational evidence! The calming climate displays a reduction in extraterrestrial energy input for the atmosphere. Without a significant lessening of heat energy so it must be an electrical reduction. But the altered biota in the region of this outpost shows that there is an aetheric interaction with biological entities! They've gotten larger, so there must be an increased energy input to for the mass differential. The color changes are interesting as well but not as indicative.

"I conclude that living organisms, such as ourselves, are able to adjust their biologically produced fields on the fly, so as to not only avoid the siphoning effect but also to be able to draw energy directly from the aether to their biological functions."

He beamed at her, very proud of the theory. "And this is ed by my technical calculations, of course, but I won't get into those just now."

She smiled back in answer, pleased with this gain in information, and prompted him again. "Fascinating. So would it be possible to formulate electrical equipment designed to work in a similar phasing with the new field, the aether, and so to operate in a similar manner?"

The beam slipped and a look of concern crossed his face. He attempted a casual look around, not very well, before continuing.

"Theoretically, yes. Though the machines would have to be enormously complex to do so reliably. The aether is stable in of constant impact but the field itself is constantly changing, and in a chaotic manner."

He leaned in, speaking softer. "Actually, such 'machines' already exist. Our bodies. I think that at some point during our evolutionary development there must have been prior . And possibly some hybridization or even more deliberate alterations. Otherwise we would be showing changes like those fish outside. Some of the things I've gotten out of the database guardians this conclusion. And of course many of those guardians at least appear to be human in origin."

He leaned back out and his voice got a bit louder and resumed a tone of mild superiority. "No, no, the powers of the Center have already hit upon the best solution. Tailored biology, like the Tegma. And of course they do things with their technology that we could only dream of with our old tech."

So at least some of the Center technology is likely to be powered by electrical interactions in the world.

Satisfied at gaining a few more pieces to the puzzle and noting his discomfort at the offered confidence, she stood. Best not to test his acting ability any further, as she had already gotten more speculation than that on previous human/Center interactions from some bio and anthropology experts.

Despite the rather transparent hopes of the male in front of her, she would be sleeping alone this night, but spending a bit more of the evening in his company would be a small price to pay to make this all seem casual.

"Of course. But I am getting a little hungry. Maybe we can talk more about the Battles over dinner."

A more spontaneous smile broke out on his face while he stood up as well to match her. She noticed, as she tried to note all significant phenomena around her, but did not try to encourage him further. Dinner would have to be a slow reduction of interaction, though she wanted to maintain him as a for further information so would try to keep things fair between them.

She paused briefly as they exited the chamber and turned her head away, to a hand, once, down across her face.

Part 4

Nineteen

He helped bear up the dead.

Kole marched slowly off the field along with the others, left shoulder held under a shield that bore the body of a fallen trooper.

Through the pounding rain he could just make out the Legion standard disappearing down the exit ramp. Behind him, even with the numbing sound of the downpour, he could make out shouts as officers finished up organizing the reclamation of materials. The looting and gathering.

The wounded were always taken off first now, then the dead, then whatever supplies they could scrounge from the arena.

He already had the count, and if none of the wounded died before they could be cycled through the tubs then their total dead for the Battles remained just under the five hundred mark. Thirty Battles done, and a tenth of the Legion dead on the field. Not bad, considering. A loss rate of only one and a half percent on average per battle was even a borderline miracle, though he had made sure to take every possible advantage.

Sure, Kole. You're doing a great job. He deliberately turned his head to look into the face of the young man lying dead on the shield. Really into it, as an enemy weapon had carved a hole, leaving a grotesque gap from one side of the mouth all the way up to an eye socket.

Brains were leaking into the opening to mix with the red viscera in the immediate area. The other eye remained open, showing a warm brown color that almost matched in shade the careful braid of a sidelock. Tell that to him.

His body kept marching in step with the others, an ingrained habit at this point, but he turned his head back anyway and down to watch the footing. The rain had swiftly turned the ground to mud for this fight and it had only gotten worse. Heavy chunks of clay clung to his boots, to all of their feet, making any sort of movement a draining slog.

No doubt weapons and more had been swallowed up during the fighting, but with any luck they should still make an overall gain in materials.

One Terran year in, and they had brought twenty-five hundred fighters onto the field. It would be as long again before the entire Legion would fight in every Battle, but they were finally going to get some reinforcements.

Tomorrow, at the start of their last long break of four weeks. After that, until Battle ninety some two and a half Terran years hence, it would be one Battle every two weeks.

So this break would be special, for that and the reinforcements, and more if Ainat kept his word.

The march halted, briefly, as they filed in to the holding area, out of the rain finally, and waited for everyone else to get in. He took the chance to look around

and saw a lot of numb, grim faces. Hardly anyone was speaking as they all just stood there not half exhausted.

The arena gates closed behind them and, after a brief pause, the exit tunnel on the other side opened up. They walked on, falling into better formation on the avenue leading back out to the ring road and their own compound.

Tucker up front with the standard started a slow cadence, taken up by Tops and sergeants along the line of march. Even some of the troopers sang along, though many of those around him just moved their mouths or didn't bother even with that. Some of the mud sloughed off as they went, but a lot of it clung tight.

There was a chill breeze outside of the arena but no rain.

There were Tegma and other watchers lined up along their road back to the compound, but no other large formed bodies of troops in sight. They could break free if they wanted, at least for a time. And in so doing forfeit all human gains in the Battles.

They marched on.

And ed through the gates of their own compound to the sound of cheers from the other half of the Legion. Almost a ritual now, to greet the victorious returned. Fresh troopers moved up to take their burdens, at a swift sprint for the wounded but a stately walk for the dead.

Kole stood there numbly in the mix of his own perceptions until an older trooper of the Green took up his spot, then shook himself mentally and strode over to the gathered knot of the command group, moving deeper into a Stillness almost forgotten in the wrung out post-Battle haze.

"Commandant. Majors. Well done. Everyone performed as expected during the Battle."

Alain shook his head at Kole, smiling wryly as he stood there with armor covered in mud mixed with blood. "Thank you, ser. Though if we had to force our way up that slope in the mud and rain it would have been a different matter. Your tactics were inspired."

Clapping a hand onto one of Alain's shoulders, in command pose, Kole kept up the little play for the sake of the Majors and the thousands of others within sight.

"That's what the artillery is for, Commandant. To make them come to us." He gestured over at a pair of Tank troopers, each carrying back to the armory one half of a portable scorpion, a device that used twisted sinew to store energy and launch objects over a distance.

"Just be glad they didn't have anything of their own with the same range. We'll need to keep working on new wrinkles for the coming Battles, just in case."

"Yes, ser. We're pretty much settled into standard equipment loadout now, so there will be more time for experimentation. And the building projects are mostly finished, except for any later additions."

"Indeed they are, Commandant." Kole dropped his arm from the other and turned to sweep a gesture at the housing and mess halls and other buildings taking up a small chunk of the compound, mostly wood and mostly clustered near to the water tower standing over them and next to the water dispensers in the wall.

"Now. I think the Banner Majors can handle things with the festivities tonight, so you and me and the staff group will go on a final inspection tour. After we all clean up and take a break. We need to make sure everything is in order for the promised influx in the morning."

Alain then nodded around at the staff Majors. "Of course, ser. Shall we meet at the officer's mess in one hour? I will just on the orders." The older man barely waited for a nod from Kole before moving out, sending the staff Majors to seek out their own Banner groups to confirm the plan for the rest of the day.

Kole stood there for a moment longer, alone in the bustle, before moving toward his own quarters for a wash and a brief nap.

***

In his Stillness, the next morning, he felt the alteration in the Shard flow through the walls that signaled an opening of the gates.

He stood on the stone porch of the meeting gazebo, doors open but windows all closed against the continuing chill of the local autumn. Windows that had been

terribly difficult to craft but helped complete the picture of the small building.

For these meetings he now wore pleated formal robes, dull gray but with lines of silver trim, that were carefully designed to an image of humility and respect. The Liseli Emissary had grown no less proud during the string of continuing victories. If anything that pride had grown more overweening, his manner more overbearing. But tactics in the arena were only part of Kole's strategy, only part of the necessary dance to meet his goals, and Ainat needs must be kept assuaged.

That worthy moved with a stately grace toward him as the marching Tegma cleared the area of the gates and took up positions around the gazebo. Yleissa, as always, came just behind him, the refined elegance of her own robe outshone as usual by the peacock garishness of that worn by Ainat.

A ways behind them both two Tegma escorted another figure that followed a now familiar theme, and Kole held in a wince as he took in the sight of another of Ainat's 'gifts', knowing that there would once more be crystals embedded on the underside of her sternum.

This one was younger than the others and might have been sixteen years old. She was dressed as enticingly as her predecessors though in a very different style. Skin-tight leggings in a pale blue color, under a bare olive tan midriff and a brief tube-top of the same material.

Dark brown hair in a pixie cut topped a lovely face with almond shaped eyes just barely slanted upward at the outsides.

He held himself still as they approached, though internally was fervently praying that this was not the only new addition to the compound. Behind them all, from the raised porch of the gazebo, he could make out laborers bringing in a normal supply load but nothing more.

He bowed as the Vanyr lord made his way up the steps. "Honored Emissary, welcome once more to our compound. Would you care to be seated while we speak?"

"Certainly, Smith. Let us sit together and talk."

The three of them made their way into the gazebo. Kole and Ainat each sat in their padded wooden armchairs, while Yleissa perched on her smaller but still comfortably padded chair just back and to one side of Ainat.

Her face as usual bore no expression, but Kole had made a point of watching the motions of those bright red eyes whenever possible. Ainat may never notice his game but Yleissa was entirely too sharp.

"Well, Smith, another Battle and another victory. The Terran bid has reached the second Stage, as expected by my Family, but with considerably fewer losses than anticipated. Well done. I say again, well done Terran. I have brought another gift for you to commemorate the occasion."

That false bonhomie faded somewhat to show a scowl that came across as simply petulant. "Perhaps you will choose to make better use of this one than the others."

The face cleared back to its normal oblivious fog. "But no matter. One of these days I will determine your preferences. Though I wish you would just tell me what you like, since my previous gifts have not been to your taste."

Kole bowed again from his seat. "I don't know what you mean, Lord Ainat. Each of your gifts have been welcome additions to this compound and I much enjoy their company. Though of course there are thousands of men in here and I cannot show particular favoritism to any of our few women. That would be bad for morale and might cause us to perform less well in battle."

He smiled at the Vanyr and wrinkled his brow inquisitively. "But I hope that such is about to change. Perhaps you have also brought the requested staff, in addition to the promised reinforcements?"

He let his face swing over to gaze at the piles of supplies, sitting on the broad area that the Legion had paved over in stone around the gates.

The Emissary waved a hand languidly while Yleissa sat poised and looked at him expectantly. "Yes, yes, we shall get to that. I have your reinforcements outside the compound—one thousand wild-caught Terran fighters. As I said before, you have done better than expected and we have some extras ready. Train them up, and do that numbers for the actual Battles are very carefully monitored.

"You shall have more when they are needed. Terran numbers are dwindling now but we made sure to build up a stockpile early on. These later additions have all been exercised regularly and otherwise looked after, so they should be in reasonable condition."

Kole nodded at this but remained silent, glancing over once to see where Alain had marshaled nearly the full Legion spaced some distance from the guarding Tegma. In uniform but unarmed. They were all held ready in anticipation of the reinforcements, but also in anticipation of the considerably more important, to nearly everyone, incoming staff.

Long months without the company of the opposite sex, for most of them, was a very long time. Long months of cold showers and inadequate social interactions. He had made it clear that such would only change as a matter of mutual consent, but more balanced numbers could turn this place from an army camp into a better sort of community. If managed correctly.

Ainat held his pausing-for-effect expression a bit longer, which was quite distinct from his waiting-for-obeisance expression, then shifted into the sternlylording-over-indig-clients expression, before resuming.

"However, your other request represents a considerable expense for the Liseli, and one not entirely anticipated in our planning stage. We have managed to procure and transport over five thousand non-combatant humans, of breeding age and in good health. Mostly female, as requested. Many of them are even Terran, though not all and even some Terrans were purchased secondhand. Extra supplies will be provided for them. As noted, this will considerably reduce available luxury goods for some time hence.

"But, before releasing them to you we will also require an exchange of resources. A token, if you will, of generosity on your part to match the generosity that we of the Liseli have shown to you."

The Vanyr leaned forward, movement tracked by the raptor gaze of the woman beside him. "We require that the copper we provided you with be returned. Or bronze if you have alloyed it all. As a good faith offering to offset the considerable expense we have gone to on your behalf. You Terrans are using your iron now so you will not need it for the Battles."

Kole felt his jaws press together during this prepared speech but did not let his teeth grind. He had half-expected something like this and had made contingency plans. And had excuses ready.

"Certainly, Lord Ainat. We can return some of our old materials to you. Though of course some of that copper was used here in the compound, to make pipes for our plumbing and for other building necessities."

Yleissa leaned forward to whisper in the ear of the male Vanyr, who nodded at her and then turned back to Kole.

"Yes, yes, we know that you have used some of it and lost some of it. But that should be more than made up," a finger was held up and wagged, "by that which you have taken after the Battles.

"I know, I know." The broad false smile appeared. "We cannot expect your Terrans to be as disciplined as the Tegma and looting will happen. But you have recovered considerable amounts of copper and bronze and, should you return most of it to us, we will be happy to release to you your new servants. An extraordinary measure, I agree, but made in order to match an extraordinary request."

Kole simply offered his seated bow again. This was a bit of a setback but it was no time to drop the act. "Of course, Lord Ainat. If you will allow me some little time to have it brought?"

He waited for the languid nod but did not otherwise give any time for more conversation or an interjection from Yleissa before hopping up, gathering up the bottom of his robe, and trotting out of the gazebo and down the steps.

And on over to the Legion standard and Alain, aware that his appearance was undignified but still keeping up the show for Ainat. And clever Yleissa. He came to a halt in front of the Commandant and took a few deep breaths before speaking.

"They want most of our copper and bronze, but say we get a thousand reinforcements and more than five thousand staff in exchange."

Tucker was eyeing Kole is his mussed robes with a half smile, but Alain kept a formal pose, saying loudly, "Yes, ser, Strategos! It will be brought at once!"

He then relaxed the stance a bit and spoke in a more normal voice. "All of our stockpiles, yes? From the warehouse?"

Kole nodded, smoothing his robes but catching the older man's eyes for a long moment with his own. "That's right, Commandant. Everything we have available in the warehouse."

"Yes, ser."

Kole turned away to walk back more sedately, as Alain began to issue orders for several Banners to transport the materials. There should be plenty there to satisfy the Vanyr. Who continued to tilt things in their favor as much as the rules allowed.

They must be worried that we'll make it to the final Battle. Iron or steel had a much more difficult time piercing the shield effects of Shard phasing techniques than did copper or certain bronzes. Which were also somewhat resistant to the heating effects, though more so with the subsidiary battle-orbs than direct Shard use.

So no bronze armor when we make it that far, but still some surprises left. Most of the requested metals were stockpiled in the main warehouse, true, but there were also thousands of small but serviceable spearheads hidden away elsewhere. And a few more things, all of a special bronze alloy. With luck they would go unnoticed until needed.

On the way back he lifted a hand up where they could see it from the gazebo and then turned to walk over to the young woman they had brought, standing there with a sultry expression that seemed incongruous on the young face.

As he neared, she strutted right up to him until their feet met and then put her hands on his waist and leaned her upper torso back against their pull.

"Time for some fun, Lord? I'm Vrali and I'll do anything you want me to."

He pulled himself deeper into the Stillness before reaching down to grasp her hands and stepping back in the same motion.

In the same Standard that she had spoken to him, he replied, "Please don't do that, Vrali. What I want you to do is to respect personal space and to act politely toward others."

Dropping her hands, he glanced over his shoulder to judge how much time there was to deal with this. He also focused his inner perceptions on the tiny Shard draws of the crystals in her chest. The first crystal pulsed but there was a distinct negative echo from the other two, even before he talked about not having sex. A recalibration then. Ainat was pushing harder.

Her face shifted from sultry to uncertain to displeased to rebellious, then she just cocked out a hip and stood there moving her hands over herself in a mildly provocative manner.

"However you want me. I aim to please."

Holding in a sigh, Kole focused his gaze on her eyes and spoke up almost before she finished.

"We can discuss this later, Vrali. For now I would like you to wait for me over there on the other side of the gazebo. By yourself. I have some work to do but we can talk and get to know one another better a little later. Would you like that?"

There was a complex ripple from the crystals before she answered. "Fine. But hurry up about it. I get bored easy and might do anything for some fun."

With this she strutted past him in the indicated direction, hips moving out in an exaggerated manner with every stride.

He walked behind her but turned at the steps to go back into the gazebo. There he offered polite conversation, or the empty phrases that ed for it in this company, until the requested metals had been brought and exchanged with the waiting supplies. The Legion then stood back and waited as the Liseli laborers hauled out through the gates the eclectic mix of rough ingots, weapons and armor, and broken bits.

Yleissa conversed briefly with a pair of Svart and with Gariath the technical consultant, before moving over to where Kole and Ainat stood waiting in the morning light of the brisk but clear day.

"The amounts are satisfactory, Lord Ainat. Shall we bring in the others?"

"No, no, Steward. Of course not. I don't want to stand around here and wait while they all straggle in."

The Vanyr flicked a hand over at Kole, saying, "Until tomorrow, Smith," before walking away and out the gate. Yleissa stood for a few moments longer, looking around carefully, before following him out just ahead of the main body of Tegma.

Kole held his breath, wondering if that was just normal Ainat petulance, but let it out in a huff as human figures began to walk through the broad opening of the gates.

He turned to wave at Alain, but then walked back into the gazebo where he had some better clothes stashed. The Center style robes were all right some of the time but they were too awkward for his working day.

He got changed and back out in time to see the Red Banners herding the new fighters into order at the back of the Legion formation. They could wait until after the next bit was done.

Down on one side of the gazebo beside the steps, Vrali caught his eye as she leaned against the wood and ever so slowly drew her tube-top down lower.

That would have to wait. Turning back the other way, he moved down toward the more delicate problem than either the new recruits or the corrupted youth. He was sorry as hell about putting those new troopers in the Battles but it wasn't really his choice. Nor was Vrali's behavior. The civilian staff was. Time to see if he could make their lives better instead of worse.

The gates had closed and a large disordered group of people stood in a rough mass next to what appeared now to be bare stone wall. He could make out faces along the edges, all female and many blank, but others appeared anxious or afraid or even hopeful.

Looking the other way, every single man of the Legion that he could see was smiling, though with various types of smiles. Otherwise discipline was holding and they all stood silent in their ordered ranks. So far.

One of the portable speaking platforms waited halfway between the two groups, so he strode right over and climbed up. Taking the amplifier out, he clipped it on but stood facing off for a few more moments while he looked back and forth between the two groups.

Why do I get myself into these things?

He took a moment to enter the Stillness more fully to search for any Shard draws among the large new crowd. Nothing. Thanks for small mercies.

With a deep breath he finally turned fully toward the wall and swept his arms akimbo. "Welcome! We are the Legion of Terra and this is our compound, where we live and train to fight the Hundred Battles."

He followed that Standard speech with an English translation. That might not cover everyone but would have to do for now.

"I have good news for you! Many of you were slaves. Perhaps all. Which I am sorry to find is legal in the Center. It is not legal anywhere that I am in charge! Every single person is free, and so each of you are free! This is not something I do but instead a recognition of fact!"

He paused then, after translating, to let that sink in a bit, before dropping his arms back down and changing tone.

"However, we still have rules, because we must all live together. I promise that I will offer you as much freedom as possible within the constraints that we all face. But everyone here has a job. The people standing lined up behind me have the job of following orders and of fighting in the Hundred Battles. Your jobs will be in of that effort.

"This does not mean sex! There are no prostitutes in this Legion just as there are no slaves! Sex can be a beautiful act of love or it can be a simple physical release or it can be a number of other things.

"But here the rule is that sex is a private matter of strictly mutual consent. None of you will be forced into sex and those that want to will still have a formal job to do!"

Another pause, after another translation. He pointed back over his shoulder, sweeping the hand across the front of the ranks, before dropping it.

"There are many jobs you might do, but they will all these fighters. We need cooks and people to clean and do laundry, yes, but the troopers have been doing that for themselves and those are not the most important needs.

"We need counselors, to listen and offer advice and sympathy. Doctors and nurses to help care for the wounded. Physical therapists. Hair stylists and body artists. Entertainment, from song and dance and other arts. More, as this is a community now so we need planners and firefighters and educators and people

to offer religious solace and a hundred other things.

"If any of you have experience in crafting, especially smithing or metal forging, then you are very welcome indeed. Some of the troopers have knowledge in these areas but more is better.

"The point here being that I will not attempt to force you into a particular job, not unless I absolutely must. Pick something that you can do and think will help and try it out. If that does not work than try something different. If you are not sure or do not care then of course we can assign something.

"Those who want to the fighting ranks may also be able to do so, when we have spots open. The Legion has a full strength of five thousand personnel, so half of our formal reinforcements will instead be staff like you. Those who want to be in reserve to replace casualties will still have another job, but with lighter duties to for time spent training and drilling.

"There will be physical standards, which for physiological reasons will be more difficult for most women to meet than for most men. I am sorry about that but we fight by muscle power and must deal with what we have. If you have speed or agility instead then you may find a place in the Gold Banners."

This all took some time, as Kole stopped after each bit to translate. The reaction he was getting seemed to be cautiously favorable on the whole, though some were still blank and others seemed hostile.

He cleared his throat and glanced back at the troopers before continuing. Most were still smiling, hopeful or lustful or just trying to be as friendly as possible

across the fifty yard gap. There had been some word out about what was coming next. Their faces must be hurting by now from the constant smiling.

"You will have one week to decide on a job. We are in a long break now, the last in a while, so there will be three weeks after that before the next Battle. So plenty of time to shake things out.

"I am serious about banning forced sex. Rape is forbidden and under the discipline of the Legion is punishable by death. It has not happened yet but if it happens to you then I expect you to come forward and report it. The investigation will be swift and just, as I have bargained for the use of a Verifier of the Unity. A device that determines if someone is lying or telling the truth.

"They do not let us keep it in here but within days the truth will be known. Have no fear and tell the truth; justice will be done. The same goes for all of our other rules of conduct, which you will be learning over the next week."

He cleared his throat again. "That being said, it is also the case that people will get together and form bonds in their private lives. Most people do want to seek out a companion and to enjoy the company of the other.

"I expect it to be no different here, but here there is also a sense of urgency because in four weeks time any one of the fighters behind me could die in battle. We have years of fighting to do and we face death every time.

"For that reason I have instituted a formal procedure for those who want to form a deliberate union in their private lives. Call it marriage if you wish. There will be rules to go along with it and also rules formalizing methods to break it.

Anyone wishing to be so ed will be required to learn those rules by heart.

"If anyone wishes to have children, I encourage you to do so within such a deliberate union. They will be cherished and protected here in the compound. There will also be special rules in place regarding children to ensure that this is so.

"On a related note, better housing is offered to those in a deliberate union, and better still to those with children. Those of you not in a deliberate union, a marriage, will live in open barracks. Just like the troopers behind me but in separate buildings. Those who together will have private quarters. This is a space and materials consideration, but I would be quite pleased, and will bargain for and build as much new housing as necessary, if we end up with five thousand happy couples."

He paused again after translating, to nod encouragingly, or as well as he could manage in a stage manner, and to offer a smile at the gathered crowd. There were many expressions but they all seemed to be watching him carefully. It was probably his imagination but there also seemed to be a surge of anticipation from the men behind him.

"There will be limited social venues every night for those wishing to meet new people. But this might be too slow a process, given our constraints and our history, and some of you may not want to face the pressures of such open rituals. So I have also organized another system for people to find a companion.

"You might call it a combination of lottery and speed dating. It has been set up to give everyone a choice, but also to simplify the process of finding a companion. In one week you will also have the chance to that event.

"The way it will work is that names will be put into two bowls and drawn out at random. The bowls will be labeled 'male' and 'female' for convenience, but you may put your name into either bowl as you choose. Chairs and tables will be set up and each two people drawn will be given some time to speak alone. After that, they may choose to put their names back in or instead to form a relationship, but in any case any relationship must be a matter of mutual agreement. If there is enough interest we may hold this event every week."

He translated that and nodded at them again, slowly, after letting the smile slip. "I know that this is a lot to put on you at once. That many of you were torn from your homes and mistreated and maybe raped before you were brought here. That you hope to get back to loved ones.

"But these people behind me have even fewer choices than you now do. Your homes are gone now and the loved ones you knew may never be seen again. But these people behind me need you. They need your kindness, your , your love.

"One hundred battles, and every time we face death. We fight together, but there is a deep loneliness in a person without a companion, without the chance for love. Please consider my words here today. Please give these people, and yourselves, a chance to find happiness, and perhaps to find love."

He bowed his head then, after translating yet again, before raising it and putting a hand out behind him. "Special details have been told off to escort you to your housing and help you get started. To find you clothes if you need them. A place to wash. To rest. Food to eat. Please listen to them and let them help you get organized. They have promised to be as gentle as possible, but there are many of you so please be patient. That is all for now."

After the final translation he unclipped the amplifyer and hopped down, gesturing at the officers to get started.

The Red Banners at the back of the formation started moving the new recruits over to the training field for a shakedown and evaluation. Slots would not be decided until all of the staff had a chance to volunteer, but they did need to do something with the extra thousand fighters and they would be kept in a body for now.

Alain trotted up with a nod to grab the amplifyer but then trotted back off toward the training field in order to take charge of that.

Kole stood there watching for a while longer, but spoke to Carmen as she went past to help organize the staff. "Major Rivia? I thought that Disa and the others would be with you today."

She stopped, with a somewhat knowing smile on her face. "No, ser. They all have something else to do."

After a brief pause, she continued, "You should listen to what they have to say. What you said to the new people goes for you as well…ser."

As she walked on wearing the same smile, he watched her go and wondered what that was supposed to mean. Shaking his head, he turned back toward the gazebo and the next chore.

Coming around the corner, he half expected to find Vrali fully naked or whatever else she could think up, but instead she just stood there looking meek next to a smiling Disa.

Hmm. That isn't suspicious at all. But if it worked…

"Hello, Disa. Vrali. Disa, I thought that you and the others would be helping to get the newcomers settled?"

"Actually, Lord, we all wanted to talk to you. The others are waiting back at your quarters, but I came to find you and instead found this new one. We had a chat while we waited for you to finish the speech."

Her smile still held in place, she extended a hand back toward the buildings. Past her, smaller groups of newcomers were already being escorted that way. "If everything is in hand here, do you have some time for us?"

He thought about what Carmen had said, then spent a few moments watching the bustle going on as thousands of people were sorted out and moved around. "I think that they can manage without me. Sure. Let's go."

With that the three of them walked together and threaded their way between buildings and other groups of people. He eyed Vrali as they went but she was still acting completely different from earlier.

They finally came to his quarters, which were one big room really, given the deliberately simplistic building styles. He did get the second floor end of a structure for housing officers, with an external staircase and entrance.

They moved up the staircase and through the outer door into the large room. He just had a collection of mismatched chairs in there for furniture, other than a bunk back against the far wall and a small table desk.

Or had. Helwyn and Dilaha were both seated in the chairs around the door and waiting for them, but rose when they entered. Beyond them Kole could see four new bunks, in stacks of two, lined up against the wall near his own bunk.

He sighed internally but focused on the people first. The contrast between the women was striking for him, as always. Though he spent as little time alone with the three 'gifts,' or four now, as possible.

Helwyn stood a bit taller than Kole, lean and angular and very fair, and as usual showed a caring smile within a cascade of auburn braids. Next to her, Dilaha was serene and much shorter but also much more curvy, with skin a slightly red tinged brown and shining black hair. They both wore simple dresses, like Disa, that were not overly demonstrative but not really that modest either.

After they each took a chair, Kole looked from one smile to the other. Helwyn leaned toward him with hands on her knees. Dilaha just sat with her hands clasped and seemed to draw the light in the room toward her. Disa, with her lush nordic looks and blonde hair brought around to rest on her lap, kept glancing over at Vrali. Who sat with her feet drawn up under her and was looking down but with her lips curved up on the ends. He felt distinctly outnumbered.

"So…what's up?" He spoke in English, because it was still more comfortable for him. The others has all been prepared in it so Vrali probably had been as well.

"Because it looks like you're trying to move in with me, and we have discussed this before."

He drew a bit deeper into the Stillness as a buffer and tried for virtuous thoughts. As always, the minute Shard flows into their chests brought a pang of guilt to his mind, though he could never let on that he knew about the crystals themselves. And as always, simply being around the women was enough to inflame him, body and mind.

"And how did you know that Vrali was coming?"

Dilaha took the lead in responding. While she spoke, also in English, the others all turned their faces to listen. Kole didn't know what it was about the small woman—she always seemed to draw the focus in a room but without any sort of dominating presence.

"Lord, we have all moved into this chamber with you and will live here with you now. We are agreed on this. There are more women in the compound now so it will not be unfair. You are the Strategos, the leader, and we will you and take care of you while you do your own job."

She then waved a small hand over toward the new addition. "And it was simple to bring in an extra bunk. We thought that there would be at least one more of us sooner or later. Vrali is welcome, of course."

Kole opened his mouth, thoughts racing, but Disa spoke up before he could get a word out.

"Kole. This place is a mess—there is dust everywhere and you never clean. You need a haircut. All of your clothes are wrinkled. There is rust on your armor. You do not eat proper meals. These things were all understandable for a time, but the whole Legion will have more help now and the leader must set an example."

He closed his mouth, blinking, before Helwyn ed in. The purring edge of her voice made his heart beat a little faster.

"We know that you do not want to take advantage of us. Whatever you think that means. But we all still want you. And we all want to help you. Let us help you to do your job, and to live better, and we will not push you on the rest. Just know that we are here for you."

He sat back in his chair, slumped really, still thinking, when Dilaha spoke up again.

"You may try to fight us on this. You may force us out. But we will not cooperate. We will break all of the rules that we can until you see reason. How will that look? How will that help the Legion? If you are committed to victory for the Legion then you will let us help you."

Immediately after that Disa spoke back up, as if on cue. "Even if this is something you do not want, does that matter? You are the Strategos and the

Legion must come first.

"It is different most places in the Center but we all think that this way is right. Your way. You may give orders because you sacrifice of yourself for everyone else. So, even if you do not like us, still you must let us help you because that is better for the Legion."

He felt a smile curve his face, but stopped it before he started to grin. Backed into a corner. They had planned this out well.

"Ok. You have me there. I do need the help and it looks like you all are the best ones for it."

He then wiped the smile off and let concern rise into his eyes while he gazed around at them. "But, look. I have my reasons for not getting…close to any of you.

"Vrali," he turned to focus on the newest addition, "you're way too young for me. I'm sorry if you don't agree but there it is. Maybe in a few years we could talk but maybe not. A lot can change in a few years and it may never be an issue."

She chimed up, breaking her silence, sitting bolt upright on the chair with her feet under her butt and her knees sticking out. "That's foolish! I am a woman! I —" The outburst cut off and she seemed to wilt a bit in the chair as the three other women all leveled stares at her. "Anyway I guess we can talk about it later."

Kole looked from her to the others, then thought about the dynamics going on. Maybe keeping the four together would be a good thing.

"But as for the rest of you…here's the thing. I'm already married. Sort of. It's complicated…and I can't talk about it." He stopped, considering how that must sound. "Anyway, I have my reasons."

Helwyn glanced at the other two older women before answering in her low, purring voice. "That does sound complicated. We are glad to be able to speak with you about these things. But for now it does not matter. We can talk about other things later, but for now you must still be tired after the Battle yesterday and there is other work yet to be done today."

Kole sighed again, leaning forward to rub at his head. Another day in paradise.

Twenty

Starfall Keep. Early afternoon.

Tammy shifted around again on the cushion while she sent another glare over Clayton's way. This is all his fault.

The man was keeping his distance during the battle gathering, which was probably pretty smart considering her mood. She saw him cast an apprehensive look over at her before turning hurriedly back to stare at the still blank hologram projector; her mouth quirked a smile even as she glared.

Half of his beard was shaved off, making his face look lopsided, and there was a long shaved stripe running from the center back of his neck up to just over the crown. The hair around that was still long but looked pretty ragged. But at least he knows it.

She sighed a little, still trying to find a better way to sit, but then just leaned back against the wall with her knees relaxed open and let her eyes drift half closed. Bored and uncomfortable and just waiting for the thing to get started so she could forget about freaking Clayton junior taking up all of her space and putting her through this.

From that position, her eyes took in the three women sitting directly across the chamber from her, also on the back benches against the wall, but framed by a pair of hulking Tegma to either side.

The Vanyr in the middle sat primly upright, not even using the wall as , while the girl-child on her lap echoed the pose so closely it was eerie.

Hell's bells, she's not even two years old. What kind of baby does that? Like they could hear her thinking, mother and daughter both turned their alien gazes over on her for a second, before continuing to slowly sweep their eyes around at the others in the crowded room.

Tammy shivered a bit but didn't move, just letting her eyes take in the other two women with their children. The other girl was precocious too, turned around on her mother's lap to jabber some baby jabber up at her. Tatiana sat smiling and nodding back, one hand stroking the short curly dark hair and the splotchy cafe au lait skin of the small neck.

Mari, on the other side of the stiff looking elf-pair, was practically beaming around at pretty much everyone. The little carrot top boy in her lap gurgled and waved his pudgy little arms in the air, nearly striking at her face above him in his enthusiasm. She just patted his head and kept smiling, bouncing him up and down with her legs.

Tammy felt her own hands creeping around the curve of her belly as she watched, until she was almost hugging herself as she sat there lolling against the wall. She felt her heart swell as she watched the other children, until that was interrupted by a sharp jab right into her ribs from the inside. Little bastard!

She winced, then glared at Clayton again, then let her head loll back against the wall. This one is going to be called Pokey, or maybe something cool like Bowie. Her hand stroked across the knife strapped to one thigh. Anyway that's a better

name than Karl or Natya or freaking Hildrath.

But it was starting. The low hum of conversations in the room stopped, except for the chatter of a few kids, when the crystalline disk of the projector flashed three times before the hologram formed into shape above it.

She forgot about the hard bench and the thin cushion and leaned forward to brace against her knees and watch. The room was shaped kind of like a bowl, with each circle of stone benches set above the ones below. All around those circles heads turned to watch and other people leaned forward like she was.

There wasn't any sound, so they could still talk if they wanted, but sometimes things happened fast and nobody wanted to miss anything. This only happened once every two weeks and there was no rewind. And every adult in the room knew that mister Kole-in-charge was down there fighting for his life. If he died then bad things could happen to the Keep, to their home.

I wish thatasshole had told me. Then I could be there too instead of— There was another kick, almost gentle this time. One hand stoked across her belly where the impact had been. Anyway he should have told us.

Terrain formed in the air in the center of the room even as the lights dimmed. Narrow flat areas were shown on either side of a steep ridge across the middle, with a long flat top. Regular lines of bare trees covered large sections of each slope, in stripes echoing the sweep of the ridge. Everything, except the trunks of the trees, was covered in a thin coating of white.

Snow, she could tell, in the sharp clarity of the hologram and from watching

other Battles, though there wasn't any more falling at that moment. The arena seemed smaller than usual, but then she made out that the blurred edges disguised what looked to be vertical stone cliffs all around the setup of the elongated ridge and flats.

Gates, facing the central ridge from the flat portions on either side, opened up to disgorge rapidly moving figures.

On the human side a loose screen of small clusters opened up all around the gates and continued to expand forward. Three gold colored flags were borne up and spread out from one another, showing a pattern for the otherwise loose looking organization of the frontrunners. Once they had spread out to a certain width then all of those continued to move forward and started up the ridge and into the trees.

Behind them solid blocks of troops were marching out in step, falling into a choreographed and now-familiar pattern to space themselves out into a series of squares surrounded by empty spaces. Once set, they all lurched into motion and moved steadily forward until the front squares also began to move up the ridge.

She had seen them just pick a spot and wait for the enemy to show, but this time Kole must want to take the high ground. There wasn't much flat space before the slope.

In the clarity of the hologram she could make out his tall armored figure, just back of the overall center. He was striding along between a shorter but wider man and another one as tall as Kole and much bulkier. That big one carried the open red hand on white of their main flag. They had painted designs on their armor too, all of the figures did, but Tammy never paid that much attention and just looked for the now familiar shapes. Those three were surrounded as usual by

a square of hulking armored figures.

After checking all this out Tammy swung her eyes over to focus on the enemy. Oh, wow. This one is going to suck. I like horses but this one is going to be bad.

The figures that had issued from the other gate were all running easily over the slick terrain, each on four legs. Their silver armor flashed as they moved, overlapping plates that covered the tops of the centaur bodies. Duller coverings, that looked like some kind of woven chain, formed skirts that hung down near to the ground.

A thin line of them were moving forward in a broad screen straight up the ridge, but the main body had split into three roughly equal groups. One moved forward in the center, but the other two were arcing around faster and wide to the sides. Each figure looked to carry a long spear, but also had a bow strapped to its armored back and other weapons besides.

They were all moving faster than the humans, who clumped together in the larger squares in back or the smaller knots in front for mutual on the slick steep terrain of the slope up to the ridge.

The very front human scouts were just reaching the top as they met the centaur screen, which had cantered steadily across the flat of the ridge. Arrows sped into the human knots from short range and she saw several figures tumbling back down the slope.

But the light armored scouts didn't run back or even just stop. Small flags were being waved and people were probably yelling, and the scouts as a body were

pushing forward all across the line set by those big gold flags.

Even before that though she saw the very front scouts, so close to the armored centaurs hidden from them until then by the shape of the ridge, plunging directly into the thin line of the enemy. They were firing their own bows at close range, or jamming short spears up at the larger figures, or even diving under the armored skirts with knives.

And the centaurs ran back, those that didn't die from the badass counterattack. At the same time, the remaining enemies turned their top bodies nearly backwards and shot more arrows into the fast moving knots of human scouts—all still running forward and a lot of them firing back at the centaurs while they did.

Across the top flat, the big middle enemy group was almost to the crest. She could see the side groups were a little bit behind that but pushing hard.

Almost as hard as the larger human clumps with neat squares distorted by the slope and the trees. Someone must have run back to tell them what was going on, because if they didn't make it up quick then their buddies were going to get trampled.

But the middle group of centaurs had stopped when they got up on the flat a little and were taking their bows out to fire at the moving knots of scouts.

Who all pushed forward a little more, but then when down to ground in bunches that were growing as more knots came up from the back. Some of them were holding up shields against the arrow fire while others were firing back, all clustered in little bunches for .

The side groups of centaurs got to the top and started doing the same thing to the ends of the human scout line, but those ends just turned and some started firing at the new groups while others shielded.

The big rectangle formed by the larger human formations was just pushing up over the crest. The squares had merged together on the last bit of slope and lines of those bigger shields were raised against arrows as they all moved up.

They tromped steadily forward into the breathing space on the top that the scouts had cleared for them. Tammy could still see the white and red flag in the middle of that rectangle, but the rest was too jumbled and fast to make out and she couldn't pick out the head officers now.

Looking over at the big middle centaur group, she saw one larger figure push up to the front and raise a big horn up to its helmet. There must have been a noise, because that whole group was putting their bows away and grabbing their long spears back up. On either side the other groups were doing the same thing, and then all three were suddenly charging forward almost at a gallop.

The main human grouping had sorted out into three groups of their own, each around three spaced big flags of the same color. They were still mostly all together, but opened out into a big hollow rectangle to leave a center gap.

Which was a good thing, because it gave the scouts somewhere to run to. As soon as the larger enemy groups had put their bows down the light armored scouts were all running back toward the bigger formation, swarming around those gold flags.

Those that weren't already dead or maybe lying down wounded. As she watched, the remaining screen centaurs kept firing their bows and shot some of the scouts in the back as they ran.

But the big centaur groups were charging forward right behind them. The scouts just managed to filter back through the human ranks, and those ranks to close back up again, before the massive enemy punches came right up to them—and stalled.

The thick human lines held steady, jutting out spears of their own all up and down, and the centaurs stopped before they would run right up into that. Instead they turned, splitting those big groups into two arms each that swept along the sides of the human lines and curled back around to where they came from.

The ones close to the human lines tried to jab their longer spears out as they went, but that didn't work out very well because of the big human shields. Anyway they all moved back away and started to take out their bows again.

All while being peppered by the scouts. Which had gained the center and immediately started firing at the enemy again. Over the heads of their buddies but the tall centaurs were easy targets.

And she saw that the heavier weapons were breaking out now too. There was Kole right in the middle, standing up on a shield raised up by two of those really big guys that he always kept nearby. He waved his arms in a circle before dropping back down, and as he did a hundred more pairs of those big guys were letting loose with the crazy little catapults and two-armed bows and big crossbows that they all hauled into these fights with them. The heavier shots

almost mowed into the backs of the retreating centaur groups, right through the silver armor.

As this happened and the three enemy groups all started firing their bows again, the human formation was changing. The big rectangle was shifting around the scouts and the artillery, slowly as almost everybody was holding up shields against the enemy arrows, and three big squares formed up and broke off to move toward the center enemy group.

As she watched, each of those squares closed up into a turtle of shields, with big red flags dropping into the centers just as the shields closed up over the top. The red group turtles drifted apart into a string across as they moved slowly toward the enemy center group, arrows mostly sticking into the shields or just bouncing off.

The red group turtles inched closer, but as they moved they also spread further apart, until there were broad gaps between them as they neared the enemy. The outer two were even spread beyond the width of the enemy grouping that they approached.

Then she saw the really big centaur push up to the front again and raise that horn up. This time the big side groups stayed put, but the center group split into those two arms like after the charge and each arm sprang forward between the gaps of the red group turtles. Straight toward the main human rectangle.

Tammy's heart was pounding and her hands were moving over and over her belly as she braced on her knees and held her breath. A man down in front of her let out a cry and then stuffed his fist between his teeth.

The big human rectangle was changing shape again, sagging backward along the line facing the charging centaurs. In the middle of that the scouts and the artillery were all moving of to one side or another.

The three red group turtles had reversed course almost as soon as the centaur charge began, and when the last centaur ed them they broke out of the turtle shape and began jogging back over the snow and mud that they had just moved through.

The center enemy group re-merged and charged right up to the bowed human line in a massive punch—and broke through, long spears stabbing and lower horse-bodies spraying aside the thin line of shielded human figures in their way. They split into two arms again and started to spread out along the interior of the formation to destroy the light troops and artillery and crumple up the lines from within. The two enemy side groups were putting away their bows and taking up the long spears for a charge.

But none of the light troops were exposed inside. She saw the last of them filter in to the middle of the thick shielded lines that now bracketed what had been the center of the rectangle. The rectangle that now had no top, with the centaurs raging inside.

The red hand flag was there on the left in the middle of that line, right next to a smaller light blue flag with a black triangle on it.

The arms of the enemy center group spread down those thick lines as they stabbed with their long spears, but were stopped by firmly held shields and flying arrows and rocks and shorter spears poking out at them.

Behind them the red groups had come back to give the rectangle a top again and some were moving steadily now toward the centaurs still trying to cause havoc within. Down on the other short side of the rectangle the two side lines were merged together, with the middle held by a mass of those big artillery guys, now each just holding spear and shield.

As she watched, relaxing again by increments, the enemy center group was slowly compressed and killed off.

They tried again and again to break out, but each time were met and turned back by massed spears and shields and just plain human stubbornness. The two side groups tried to break in and help too, but were turned back in the same way.

One of them actually pushed home a full charge, but that was stopped by the pileup of their own bodies mixed in with some crushed humans, and when they did that a bunch of the scouts swarmed out and got in with them and killed a bunch more of the centaurs before the rest of them backed off.

Everyone around her was breathing again and some adults had even started to talk quietly, as the humans finished off the middle group and then most of them broke into two long formations.

Those stretched across the flat of the ridge-top at an angle and slowly forced the centaurs on each side down, skittering in and out of close fighting or trying to use their bows, off the ridge and back onto the slope.

One side group tried to swing around and back up at the middle of the ridge, but was met by a bunch of the scouts and artillery guys and turned back.

After both groups were forced down the main human troops stretched across the ridge in knots to turn back any charges while the scouts ran around to pick up ammo and the heavies set their artillery back up.

Using the steep slope the humans were able to contain and take out the bulk of the remaining centaurs with missile fire, shooting between and beyond the bare trees. The last of them were finally cornered and speared to death some time later by groups of humans that moved down the slope after them.

Tammy's mouth snapped shut and she came back to herself as the hologram faded and the lights came back up. She was about to run out of there quick, because freaking Clayton junior was bouncing up and down on top of her bladder, when that little goblin guy popped up next to the crystal projector between two of the Tegma.

Nobody else was leaving yet, so she stayed, but sent another glare over at halfbald Clayton to help her hold it together.

Shondrub was yammering something, so she gritted her teeth and listened.

"Thank you all, Family Starfall, for being here in of the efforts of our fief-lord. We have just witnessed his victory in another Battle, number sixty out of one hundred. The next Battle will take place in another two weeks, and I hope all of you will us here in once more. As usual, runners will be sent out once the exact time is known and the Keep lights will blink in sequence to warn of the impending start. Thank you." With that he hopped back down.

Whatever, goblin boy. Say something new next time. But she was already up and hurrying away as she grumbled to herself.

Freaking Kole left me here to just watch and the freaking goblin has to say the same things afterward every time.

Twenty-One

He secured his mask.

Kole could just make out the sound of rain above, that faint sound the only auditory remnant that made it down here into the bunker proper. Outside it was really pouring down; all of those gathered down here were wet to various degrees.

There were a hundred and twenty of these hidey holes dug spread throughout the compound, each large enough to fit more than fifty people inside if they squeezed.

There were much bigger shelters under the complex of buildings against one wall, but these scattered units were another contingency. They were also constructed as best as he was able to determine for distorting spying through Shard use.

Though there was still a chance that someone could get a visual, given the setup in the walls of the compound, so they all covered their faces during these meetings in order to hide their lips.

Which makes it both awkward and amusing at once, he thought, with a faint stirring of humor somewhere in his Stillness as he looked around at the others present.

The overall mood was somber, but then it often was in the compound outside of private quarters. Years of fighting took their toll on everyone, though much more so on the fighters. They all knew each other by now, but even without that you could pick out the fighters, the killers, by the darkness behind their eyes.

Alain sat across from him, hair turned to a uniform iron grey during the years of Battles. They were both on the rough benches that lined the walls of the narrow tunnel that made up the bunker proper.

The others sat on either side of the two of them and were sitting cocked to look inward. Most of those flanking Alain were in the cadre of Majors, faces marked by frown lines and with premature grey showing on more than one head.

But all with steady eyes, Kole noted again, as the last of them also secured their face coverings.

A glance to either side showed him the others present.

Tucker was there on his far left, grown pensive but still as stubborn as ever. He would on word from the meeting to the other UOs in his own way.

The others on Kole's side this time were mostly the civilian representatives, all under the compound Mayor, Lishanda Johnson, who sat to his immediate left. The imperturbable woman had married the redoubtable Major Lamar Johnson, bulking large on the end of the line to Alain's far left, within weeks of that initial meeting way back after Battle thirty.

The two had been together ever since. She and the Tank commander were a good match. The Tank Banner under Lamar had saved all of their lives more than once in the arena; Lishanda had saved them from themselves more than once in the compound.

Dilaha was a warm presence just to his right. This was her turn to attend, while the other two stayed home doing their own things and probably had Vrali chasing the kids around by herself. Again.

He snorted softly as his gaze ed over her head, but didn't look down at her— knowing that all he would get back would be her normal serene, inscrutable look. The same one she had used while slowly breaking down his resistance in tandem with the strategies employed by his two other compound concubines.

He still felt twinges of guilt and shame sometimes when he looked at them, felt them and their crystalline guides in his Stillness, but mostly just accepted the situation at this point.

Fighting the Battles was hard, hard and getting worse, and he needed all three of them. All four of them, really. Vrali had changed markedly over the years and was a great help to the household. She practically ran the domestic side.

The masks were all up. Time to get this started.

"Listen up, people. I know these meetings are boring but this time I have something new. A couple of weeks ago we entered Stage Four of the Battles after

we fought Battle ninety."

He paused while everyone present, thirty or so people, all leaned in to try to look at him while they listened. Those on the far ends got up from the benches to stand in the middle to see better.

"We still have ten Battles to go, one every four weeks for the next nine months or so, but there are some new wrinkles that I've been holding back. And it's time to start talking about the last Battle, that and what will happen afterward."

Alain picked up his cue when Kole paused and flicked his eyes over. They had been working hand in glove these long years and knew each other very well at this point.

"Ser. I think that it is clear to all of us that we will be fighting the Vanyr in Battle one-hundred. The Vanyr with their Tegma and their Shards. We are all very interested to hear that which you can tell us about the Battle and your plan for victory."

Lishanda spoke up unbidden from Kole's left. As usual when she had something to say. "And what the rest of us are going to do if you lose. Don't tell me these things aren't close calls. I watch them the same as everyone else back here. We have our plans but need to know if anything is different now. Spill it, Kole."

She leaned in to fix him with a steady gaze, before leaning back against the wall with a sniff. "Sorry. Strategos."

Kole held back a smile. No need to encourage her further, but he liked the balance she offered in her representation of the civilians. The others knew she was effective so they usually let her do the talking.

"Of course, Mayor." He nodded at her and then at Alain. "I won't tell you everything. Even here, even like this. But I will tell you what I can, as always."

The woman let out a snort as he finished, puffing out her mask, but held her silence. She never had accepted what he considered to be necessary secrecy, but her protests had grown less voluble over time. Alain merely sat still and nodded back.

Kole cleared his throat briefly, then continued. "Tomorrow we get to see the Vanyr in action. Sorry everyone," he nodded around generally, "I know this will change our plans for the day, but I held the news back for this meeting. We'll gather at the Battle View and watch the Vanyr fight the same bunch that we fought two weeks ago. These last ten Battles they'll mirror our fights, until the last one when we fight them."

There was a murmur of sound, mostly from the civilians, and he waited a moment before continuing. "And they have the same rules that we do, sort of anyway, so it will be the same Vanyr bunch every time. There will be review meetings after all of their fights and I want to get perspectives and analysis from as many people as possible. Especially the top officers."

He paused again to look around at each set of eyes in turn. "Thoughts?"

Alain gave a nod across the aisle at Lishanda. Who sat for another moment as

she smoothed her hands over her thighs before answering.

"Well. It will be nice to sit with my man and watch somebody else do the fighting. For a change. We're not the experts on that but all of us will get together and tell you what we think."

Then she looked up with a glare at Kole. "You should have told us about this so we could get ready. It's going to mess up a lot of 'plans for the day,' all right."

He winced a little and let her see it. On his other side and within his Stillness there was a flare from Dilaha's second crystal, but she sat unmoving.

"Sorry, Mayor. Everyone. But this ties into other things, to our purpose here and to winning the Battles. And I didn't want to divide the focus of the Legion—we have to fight one Battle at a time.

"But we also have to adapt to changes as they occur."

He leaned over just slightly to push a look back at the Mayor. "Once the Legion has attained final victory then many things will change. None of us will be able to stay in the predictable routines of the compound. All of us may have to react from moment to moment."

Alain spoke up smoothly from across the way as Kole leaned back and Lishanda got a stubborn look in her eyes.

"And we will all overcome these new challenges, Strategos. Together. As we will attain victory together. But tell us please, though we will see it tomorrow. What will be the composition of the enemy forces? What arms and structure can we expect?"

Kole turned away from the simmering Mayor and back to the main focus of the meeting. He would probably be paying for the surprise changes later, but maybe Dilaha and the others could help with that. Lishanda and Helwyn were friends.

"Most of that we'll see tomorrow, Commandant. But I will say that the entire force will be united under a single Shard-holder, wielding the lowest tier of Shard, and the rest of the force will all have battle-orbs powered by that Shard. This is problematic for us as we won't have a direct counter, but we still have various tactical options that will be of use.

"You all should know now," he spread a look around at the Legion officers present, "that powering five thousand battle-orbs with a single red Shard is less than ideal. The effects will thus be limited. It will give them an advantage, but not an overwhelming one."

He stood, turning slowly to look at each person present before facing back at Alain. "I have a plan that will bring victory, Commandant. The same plan that I have had since before any of us met. It will require absolute obedience to my orders on that day, but the Legion will prevail. Humanity will prevail." Sitting back down, he held Alain's eyes with his own.

The Commandant still showed flickers of doubt there, now and again, when the prospect of the final Battle came up. He had faced the Vanyr in battle before, on the day of the invasion and after with smaller and smaller remnants of the French military forces. But as now he never displayed any public doubt in Kole's

leadership.

Standing, he gave a slight bow and touched a fist to his chest in salute. "And the Legion will see it through, Strategos. Whatever the orders, we shall carry them out."

As the older man sat back down, Kole looked back around at the other officers present, at Tucker standing in the aisle on the left next to Major Thomas and at Major Joseph next to Major Johnson on the other end. The faces were all covered, but the eyes all held resolve.

They were with him. The Legion would be with him on the day. He had built enough trust for that over the years, with victory in Battle after Battle. Almost always with fewer casualties than there should have been. Lord help me.

He forced a smile, though none of them could see it, trying to change the mood now that he had put that out there.

"I expect nothing less from the Legion. Some of the other details I'm still learning for myself, such as whether the Tegma will be armored or not. In previous iterations of the Battles they've gone either way. We all saw on Terra that their general preference is to rely fully on Shard use instead, but I suspect that this time they'll match the heavy armor of the Legion. Just a hunch, and we may see if I am right tomorrow."

By the end of this the smile had become more natural, but he felt the touch of Dilaha's small hand on his thigh for a moment before it withdrew. She pretty much saw through him at this point. He sometimes prayed that she and the

others couldn't see all the way through him. The Legion should survive his gamble, lord willing, but he might not.

He put out a brief chuckle at them all. "No one has gotten this far in the Battles for a long time. I think we're starting to make even the Vanyr nervous. You've all seen how the Liseli are reducing our supplies, not that we aren't self-sustaining in here at this point. The Vanyr opponents will be as fully equipped as they want to be, but we have our own long history to draw on and can match them in material strength. We can more than match them in other ways."

Major Sutherland spoke up from a few seats to Alain's right, next to Carmen. "Ser, can we expect there to be just the one Vanyr leading and the rest Tegma, or will there be direction from multiple officers?"

Kole nodded at her. On point as always. "There will be at least a handful of Vanyr, all under the one with the Shard. Sometimes they have more and sometimes less. We should see that tomorrow, and that will give some indication about what kind of unit articulation we can expect.

"Though it's possible for at least the Shard-holder to on non-verbal orders. Some of us saw this back on Terra. You should also know that I am aware of strong indications," very strong, "that the individual battle-orbs can be primed to direct the Tegma according to predetermined circumstances.

"So they can set orders for the Tegma to behave in a certain way according to what's happening around them. The Tegma themselves are lacking in personal initiative, but this option helps the Vanyr to make up for that in battle. And of course the Tegma are completely obedient to orders."

Several of the officers nodded as they took this in. Major Johnson rumbled out a question just after. "Ser. We haven't fought Nidavell or Svart, the two species other than Tegma that the Vanyr always have around. Can we expect to face them in the months ahead?"

"No, Major." Kole nodded up at the man. "The opponents in these last fights will be some of the worst yet, but none of them will be Svart or Nidavell. Neither of them were ever conquered as a species by the Vanyr or anyone else in the Center. I don't know all of the history, but there were brutal struggles before each of them voluntarily chose to become part of the Center.

"Which I'm glad for; the Nidavell make for implacable foes and the Svart can be particularly nasty fighters when forced."

The rest of the meeting went by in a similar vein, mostly with clarifying questions from the Legion officers but with others from the civilians present. Kole fielded them all, guiding them as possbile with his answers and insistently keeping open speculation away from specific tactics in the last Battle. There would be enough time for that later—for what he could tell them anyway.

The meeting eventually broke up after final unifying remarks each from Alain, Lishanda, and himself. These general meetings always dragged on for a time. Afterward, he and Dilaha walked hand in hand back to their quarters and to the others of their household and family. It was still raining hard but neither of them cared.

***

The next day Vrali was sitting on his lap in the meeting gazebo, playing with his hair and chatting about the children, when he felt the change in flows that meant the gate was about to open.

He put a hand behind her neck and placed a kiss where neck met shoulder, then murmured in her ear. "Showtime. Try to keep it in bounds this time, please."

He could never tell if the Emissary and party did a surveillance of the interior before entering, but they most likely did if only for security reasons. So whoever ed him for the meeting acted intimate from the moment they arrived to wait.

The plan had been successful in keeping Ainat from showering him with more 'gifts,' but could be a bit of a strain. It was Vrali's turn this time and she always pushed at the bounds of where he wanted to go.

Her campaign against him over the years had been relentlessly waged, but he was still holding steady on that front at least. Too young. He disliked himself enough as it was.

"Oh, Kole," she murdered back while nibbling on his ear, "I can tell that you enjoy this as much as I do." She twitched her hips on his lap before sliding off as the audible stone-on-stone sound of the gates opening up rumbled out.

"But I'll be good. Mostly. You can punish me later if you want." The last was whispered low and sultry in his ear as she sat down on the smaller chair set back from his, matching the one that Yleissa used.

He sighed, deeply, and ignored her as he rose and adjusted his robe. Too young. Too annoying. The mantra helped a bit as he went out to meet with the approaching Vanyr.

They didn't have any mirrors in the compound, but he was certain that his own appearance had become more worn over the years. The two Vanyr looked completely unchanged, as they had every day of this long ordeal.

"Honored Emissary, you are welcome to our compound. Please be seated so that we may speak."

"I believe that I will, Smith. Let us sit and talk." A slight look of displeasure crept onto that face as the Vanyr spoke, as had been happening more and more the closer they got to the end of the Battles.

Kole figured that the Liseli were flush from previous victories and were now facing mounting pressure to hobble the upstarts. Though the profits on these later Battles must be significant even so. Not that they saw much of it in the compound these days.

The four of them sat back down, with Vrali leaning forward to stroke Kole's neck as they all got settled.

Ainat offered one of his broad false smiles before speaking. "The children are well I hope. Still no success with this one?"

"No, not yet, Lord Ainat." Kole ignored Vrali's softly interjected comment ("But we keep trying anyway.").

"Though she is dear to me. All of them have been a great help, and the children are doing wonderfully. Thank you again for your kindness."

"No? A pity. We were certain that she was fertile. Perhaps I could offer a replacement…?"

A fire bloomed inside of Kole, but he let the Stillness consume it and just smiled back and shook his head wordlessly.

Yleissa's eyes flicked between him and Vrali, but she had never openly interfered on this particular matter and held her silence now.

"I suppose not. The Liseli are quite pleased that you and the other gifts are fecund and happy. No doubt this has been reflected in your victories. Your leadership amazes the entirety of the Center."

Kole bowed in his seat. "Thank you, Lord Ainat. The Terran Legion has done well."

"So modest, as always, Smith. But you should know that you are famous now. All of you fighters are, throughout the Center, but you in particular have become well known. People do enjoy the tale of a scrappy underdog, facing insurmountable odds. How it must weigh on you."

This last was delivered with another of the transparently contrived expressions that the Vanyr Emissary used, expressing-sympathy-to-near-equal. Kole knew them all by this point, after hundreds of these meetings.

He gave his seated bow again. "Not as such, Honored Emissary. I am comforted by the unwavering of Family Liseli. Is there any news about that back the promised supplies and other goods?"

A moue, then a switch to regretful-helplessness. "I am afraid not, Smith. Some sort of transportation bottleneck, or so I am given to understand."

He appeared to examine his fingernails before looking back up at Kole. "And more bad news to come, such a pity. A few Battles ago your casualties were higher than anticipated, and a rather large spread wager was lost. I forget which Battle exactly."

Kole maintained a neutral expression but noted that Yleissa didn't even twitch during this speech.

"The paperwork was misplaced for a time but now it has become clear that the loss must be made up. So between that and the transportation issues I doubt that we will be able to deliver you very much for some time to come. Just minimal supplies. You understand."

I wonder who made that wager. Whose losses are we making up? But Kole let a concerned expression creep onto his face.

"Of course I understand, Lord Ainat. Please convey my concerns and good wishes to the rest of the Family. The Terrans will manage just fine through your time of troubles."

Unity law required a certain minimum supply load from the sponsor, against heavy penalties, but that did not for the extra civilian that had been brought in and more than doubled compound numbers. It didn't matter for the Legion regardless, because they could ration out what they produced and had stockpiled for roughly eighteen months with no resupply.

Doleful-sympathy was trotted out. "Oh, I do hope so, Smith. We will resolve these problems as soon as possible, but it may take some time. The fighters must eat to keep up their strength, but it would be terrible for the children and slaves to go hungry in the meantime.

"Would you consider returning some of them to us? Their resale will help to resolve our funding shortage and relieve your supply difficulties all at once." Doleful-sympathy shifted to cheerful-solution at just the wrong time during this speech.

"Ah, no, Lord Ainat. I am afraid not." The sponsor was banned by law from taking anything from the compound by force during the Battles.

"My people have all grown quite attached to each other. I know that I could not do without my own companions." He smiled over his shoulder at Vrali; her face frozen into a slight smile while he could see her but the eyes were a little heated.

"We will just have to struggle on and hope for the best."

A throat clearing preceded stern-patron-smackdown, but the beginnings of "Now see here…" was interrupted by Yleissa as she leaned forward to whisper something while keeping her eyes on Kole.

Ainat shifted over to concerned-benefactor mid-word while changing his answer into "…see here…here-here, that's the spirit. That's why we like you Terrans. Never giving up.

"And of course you are the best of the lot, Smith. That's why I would hate to see you killed during one of these Battles. Why don't you let the others do the fighting now? You have already trained them well and shown, more than enough, that you will face danger with them. Let the others fight while you stay behind to enjoy your sweet gifts."

This ended with the broad smile that looked so foreign on the Vanyr face, which he shifted between Vrali and Kole.

Kole went a little deeper into the Stillness, though wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cringe at that suggestion. Neutral mask, tempered by regretful gratitude.

"Thank you for the suggestion, Lord Ainat. Your concern is touching. But I think that such would not be received well by the Legion as a whole. Some of them are quite unreasonable at times."

The next expression was actually a new one, but Kole instantly dubbed it as delighted-to-assist. The pressure must really be on for poor Ainat.

"Ah, but we can resolve that worry as well, Smith! Just accept a number of our Tegma into the compound as your bodyguards, and your troubles will be over. Send the others off to fight while you do whatever you want to back here. The Tegma are completely obedient to commands and will keep you quite safe."

Kole mentally translated that to 'completely obedient to the commands of their Shard-holder.' Which might just include an accidental drowning or an overly exuberant push down the stairs.

They couldn't legally harm the Battles combatants, but if he stayed behind during one full Battle of five thousand combatants then he got knocked out of that category. Technically the rest of them were slaves and had no such protections.

But the sponsor was also forbidden from placing their own forces into the compound without permission from the combatant leadership, except for limited times such as escort duty.

Ah, well, this friendship was bound to fall apart sooner or later. He kept that thought to himself and simply let his expression shift into one of regretful refusal.

"No, thank you again for the offer, Lord Ainat, but I must decline. That will not be possible." A firmer response, maybe with some outright ridicule mixed in, would have been much more satisfying, but he held himself in check. This wasn't about him—none of it was.

That sparked a natural expression of Vanyr rage before the Emissary shifted it back to stern-patron-smackdown. "Look here, Smith—" But Yleissa leaned forward to interrupt once more, her eyes watching Kole from that expressionless face even as she whispered at Ainat.

Who actually smacked her aside as he stood and then forced out another broad smile. The Vanyr steward touched her cheek, once, as she stood as well, but did not change expression. The eyes still remained on Kole. Who remained seated.

"Well, think it over, will you Smith? Plenty of advantages to be had. Plenty of advantages to keeping the friendship of the Liseli."

Those muddy red Vanyr eyes shifted to stare at Vrali for a few seconds before coming back to rest on Kole. Then the smile dropped completely. "Until tomorrow, Smith. Think it over."

Both of the Vanyr turned in one motion, showing off the natural grace that they generally toned down while in the compound, and stepped swiftly down to the ground and on out the gates. They were followed by the Tegma guards, ushered out by a lone hurrying Svart just before the gates closed and merged back into the compound wall.

A single pitiful stack of goods waited inside the gates—it looked like an unpackaged pile of green loaf.

While this was happening Kole had pulled Vrali back into his lap and wrapped

his arms around her, but otherwise just looked outward while he drifted in his Stillness.

He turned back once the gates closed fully, reaching up his hands to frame her face. She had kept the pixie cut, but otherwise changed markedly in the years since that first day together.

The fear he felt when Ainat looked at her had crystallized something within him. Something growing in those long years he had known her, as she grew from child to adult. He looked at her now as she was, letting that past drop away into nothing in the Stillness of his mind.

Just then she was just sitting there with her hands wrapped loosely around his wrists, looking down at his face with brows raised.

He spoke, breaking the silence. "Vrali. I have enjoyed these little sessions, like you said. Despite myself, despite my intentions and my regrets. But this is the last one. I meet with Ainat alone from now on."

She bit her lip, then answered, still looking down into his eyes. "Kole, we need to keep up the act. Ainat was just blustering, and I'll do better next time. There's no need for that."

He let his hands flow down to her neck, then down to around her waist. "No, my dear. He wasn't.

"I think the gloves are coming off. Maybe I've been slipping recently. Or maybe there's just too much pressure on him to undermine us. It doesn't matter. I come alone to these meetings and we post a guard around the gates."

He tensed, about to rise, but relaxed back again except for the hands around her waist. That had been a naked threat in Ainat's eyes. Ainat personally was a buffoon, but the Vanyr Families survived by being both subtle and ruthless.

This was just another angle to play in regards to the 'gifts' of affection. That might or might not grow into love or just liking, but in any case provided leverage.

The threat was real enough. And had woken something within him.

Ah, well. None of the others were the jealous sort. Except maybe Eldora. That would be an interesting meeting if they ever made it that far.

"It's ok, though. One day soon we need to have that talk. You might get a different answer this time."

Vrali froze in place, then slowly raised her hands up to rest on his chest. "Well. Then before we go I should do this."

He let the Stillness rise and it swallowed the fire that rose in him, as she leaned down with her eyes closed and gave him a slow, deep kiss.

Swallowed the fire that continued to rise, in an endless burning flow, throughout that long kiss. She finally pulled back, olive tan skin flushed and hope in her eyes. And more than hope.

From the time the gates had closed and all through that meeting, Kole had kept part of his mind in the Stillness watching. There had been no flicker at all from the crystals in her chest. Nothing.

They rose together and he kissed her back, pulling her to him for a long moment before they parted.

He kept his eyes on the command group as the two of them walked away separately from the gazebo, feeling the Stillness empty out once more and his face become grim. The way it got in Battle.

Alain's eyes started to flicker around as Kole neared, and a tenseness entered that formal stance. He saluted as Kole halted, matched by the staff Majors. They, and Tucker behind them, were all tensed up, at attention but with eyes darting around to take in their surroundings.

They all knew each other pretty well by this point, but the top Legion officers spent a significant part of their lives watching Kole and gauging his mood, his mannerisms.

He took ahold of himself before returning the salute, looking down for a moment. Things to do, Kole.

It had been a long time since he needed the reminder, but it helped. He forced some will into the thought and felt it echo around the Stillness before letting it go.

Looking up again with a wry smile, he returned the salutes. "Sorry, everyone. Sorry. I need to keep that put away until Battle, just like everyone else. Nothing to worry about."

Mental health had become an issue early on and they had various methods to it. Including watching each other for warning signs.

"Trouble, Ser?" Alain asked, relaxing his pose but still taking in his surroundings. "The meeting, it went poorly?"

Kole shrugged and raised his hands with palms up before letting them drop. "Not great. But we can deal. No one is to eat that loaf over there. We'll test it on some pigs before giving any to the more sensitive livestock. I'll be doing my Liseli meetings alone from now on, but with a guard of troopers nearby.

"And we need to keep a watch on the gate at all times." He looked around the small group. "At all times. Meaning I want half the reserve force, at least, on guard out here whenever we leave to go fight. The compound is on a defensive footing until further notice."

The Commandant gave a crisp nod. "Understood, Strategos. Major Fujira." He turned on one heel to look at the Blue staff Major. "The Blue Banners are on ready status today. Orders to whichever one is handy to assume guard positions around the gate. In full Battle gear. Major O'Gorman."

His head turreted over to another staff Major even as Major Fujira saluted and sprinted off. "Gold Banners are on equipment and building maintenance. I want Gold Charlie First pulled from checking over the singles barracks and dispersed, by Fist, around the border of the wall on active patrol. Full Battle gear. Further orders to follow."

"Right," came out of the slight Irishman as the Gold Major waved a hand sloppily and turned to go, but for all that he ran even faster than the Japanese former trucker.

Kole nodded approvingly. Alain was still better at most of this than he was, but then they had different jobs. He kept his eyes focused outward while Alain really gave the orders and organized the Legion. Except for sometimes in Battle when they had to switch it up.

"I also want a berm and ditch dug around the entire area of the paved over supply zone and the gazebo. Before we gather at the Battle View today, if possible. As a containment zone just in case. We can mount spare artillery at intervals, so make it big enough to give us a fire zone, but small enough that the reserve force can defend it if they have to."

"Certainly it will be possible, Ser. I will pull the Banners off of the training field to come dig." The Commandant swept an arm ahead of him to usher the others forward, but looked back at Kole before leaving. "Unless there is something else?"

"No, Alain. Just leave me Tucker while you get to it." The Commandant nodded without looking over at the Centurion, then trotted off with the two remaining

staff Majors.

Blue Charlie was just quick-marching up when the staff officers left, following their Bannerman, and Kole motioned Tucker off to the side to get them clear. He gave orders to the big man to implement some of their contingency plans for the civilians.

The Centurion nodded along before leaving, carrying the Legion standard as always while on duty. Readying bunkers and such, in case they had to go to ground at any time. The plans had been in place for a while but not on immediate notice. The civilians had their own elected leaders but for practical reasons Kole coordinated some things through the Legion UOs. There were a lot more unit officers than command officers and the civilians were organized in parallel to the Legion groupings, so the civilian partners of the UOs were a useful spread of direction for emergencies.

***

There were fewer of them gathered that day at the Battle View than he had expected, but he concurred with Alain about keeping a significant force away from the mesmerizing effects. It was doubtful that the Liseli would try anything, ever really, despite any threats, but they were doing all of this in case of the worst possible scenario so it was best to do it right.

His family clustered around him to watch the repeat Battle. The bleachers they had constructed were not smooth looking, being made of several different materials and in different construction styles, but they were strong and there was enough seating for everyone.

He held onto little Conalt for Dilaha, to give her a break while she sat right in front of him. Helwyn stayed busy with Emeric, who was teething, on his right, but hadn't wanted to miss the rare chance of getting them all together during a Battle. Disa on his left just nursed her twin girls, Disga and Katla, through the whole thing, smiling all the while.

Vrali was a warm presence at his back throughout the Battle.

He thought about the others as he watched and jiggled his son. The older three were still affectionate but had drawn back from him in some ways after getting pregnant. And there were always flows into their crystals when they interacted with him. So he never pushed, never sought them out for himself.

Except that today with Vrali there had been no flows, no suggestions pushing her. He didn't know what that meant but she had become special to him because of it—even more so than before. From what he could tell in the Stillness her crystals were inert, like they weren't even linked any more.

Seven women now, despite his best intentions. And Vrali was the only one to offer him love without being influenced or pressured into it.

His concubines back at the Keep liked him well enough, maybe more, but they seduced him for the sake of survival and because of the realities of power. These older three…he didn't know, but they had grown distant after the influences of the crystals slackened.

What happened to Vrali's crystals?

These thoughts and more moved beneath the surface of his mind, while outwardly he juggled his squirming son and enjoyed the company of his household.

The Battle itself was straightforward. The Vanyr had the advantage of watching them fight the same opponent, with the same terrain and weather, just a couple weeks prior. They wiped out the enemy in half the time it had taken the Terrans and suffered half the losses.

But when it was over Kole looked over at Alain, where he sat with his own wife and daughter, to exchange a grim smile.

The Vanyr tactics had relied on brute force and the Shard fields. They used only melee. Their organization had been cumbersome; their battle direction awkward. Bless the Vanyr hubris. And keep us from the same.

Twenty-Two

Realm Horefell, Battle Arena. Local noon.

Carmen balanced on top of the shield, held up overhead by two of her Tank brothers. She stood with spyglass raised to survey the arena and the enemy.

Around her, the other of the command staff for this Battle did the same, while the Legion marched up out of the entrance portal by companies. Down below the command group on their temporary platforms just off to the side of the portal, runners and signalers waited for orders.

This Battle had a lot of dust and a sudden gust of wind put some grit in her eyes. She blinked it away but her concentration lapsed; they had a little time and she closed her eyes for a moment to bring herself back into focus.

Her family was in danger again and she had to be strong for them. Five thousand brothers and sisters, with even more waiting back at the compound. She was sick of these endless Battles, of war, but she would do anything she had to for her family just as they would do anything for her. For the Legion.

And just then her family needed her to focus on her duties, so she brought the spyglass back up while the other officers around her were doing the same. Some of them were cursing the wind and the grit, but that wouldn't help anything so she stayed silent. Like Alain beside her, like Kole on the other side of him.

The grit was mostly blown sand, scoured by a shifting wind brought in however the bastard judges managed to change the weather in here.

The arena wasn't flat, with long dunes set at an angle to the line between entry portals giving it a rippled texture, but from her position here she could see most of the field and gauge the depth of the depressions between dunes. They would complicate maneuvers but there was no real break in the field, no significant barriers to movement.

Though the wind was mostly coming at them and the sun overhead was bright and hot like in a true desert. Heat was rising in waves from the sand, somewhat distorting her sight of the enemy.

Beside her, Alain cleared his throat and spoke so that all the command group could hear. "Ser, are those elephants over there? Or dinosaurs? It looks like they have cavalry too."

Kole answered in his empty Battle voice. She heard it and wanted to push him over and bring him back to himself, to them, but repressed the urge again. They needed this Kole in Battle.

"I've been wondering when we would see this group, Commandant. No, those big ones are actually the adults in the final stage of a five stage development process. This species is something like a mix between insects and lizards and they change quite a bit over the course of their lives.

"Stage one are larvae and not here, stage two are the little ones hopping around like kobolds, stage three are the main infantry, stage four are the cavalry, and stage five are the big ones with howdahs on their backs."

He stopped the explanation to look over at Carmen. "Taking those down will be the task of the Gold Banners and the artillery, Major Rivia. But hold off on sending instructions out just yet. Standard deployment will do for now.

"The biggest ones have bone plates in their skin that give them a natural armor, in addition to the visible protections, but there are softer gaps between the plates to allow them to move. And the plates are mostly clustered in the front torso. The legs are vulnerable under the armor covering."

She just nodded and gestured at him to get on with it. Communications was her staff duty this time. For the next three Battles she could get back to her Gold Banners, but for the last Battle she would be back on staff, doing something else.

Gold was so practiced by now that they could figure that much out on sight. But she would tell them anyway, as ordered. Just in case.

He continued, empty voice coming out of that grim face he got now whenever they were in the arena. "Tank Banner will be artillery only and will work their way down from largest to smallest. Gold Banners will focus on the elephants and the little ones—those will be missile troops—in addition to normal harassment and exploitation duties. Line Banners will adhere to company size blocks, with gaps between and ready to either stand off a cavalry charge or to get out of the way of an elephant charge.

"This one is going to be messy, people. This species is very intelligent and they work well together. We'll need to do better. Once the elephants are neutralized we can get back to more standard tactics.

"Major Rivia." She jerked her head up to acknowledge, still watching him. "Get this info out and the following orders. Independent maneuvers by Banner, with focus on the defensive until the big ones are down. Broad front, clustered groups, slow advance until we have good artillery range. Directives to follow from command as needed. Go."

She immediately knelt on the shield, calling out "Down!" to the Tank brothers holding her up. They lowered her in a single smooth motion, kneeling in place to get her all the way down.

She sprang up and off with a smile for the two of them, Minatelli and Olson, before flicking her hands to send the runners out. The runners were listening in and would the verbal info on. More stepped up as the first bunch left, eyes all focused on the command group.

One of them was Jill Miller, looking very determined. She had just come in from the reserve for her first Battle. Carmen gave out the commands in spurts to the semaphore groups and the trumpeters, but kept an eye over that way.

A new sister in the fight; she didn't need looking after but Carmen would do it anyway. They all looked out for each other.

The rest of the command group was down and Alain was calling them all to go integrate with Red Echo banner, just right of center. Platoon 13-70 was the

bodyguard unit this time; Olson and Minatelli ed the others as their Sergeant called out for them to spread out and usher the command group and the signalers and runners on.

Carmen let herself be herded with the rest, eyes on Alain and Kole and her communications people. Just like everyone else was focusing on their own jobs.

The Battle ed for her as they all did now, as a series of impressions and feelings while she followed orders and did her work mostly by rote.

Determination to do her job and do it perfectly. Pain as she took a graze from a funny-looking arrow. Joy and fierce satisfaction as she pulled Jill out of the way of a large stomping insect with six legs that served the enemy as 'cavalry.' Pain again, with a deep and wrenching grief, as Jill took one of those arrows through her left eye.

Pain that came over and over again when she watched of her family dying. Throughout it all her love for them bore her up, kept her going. Took in all the pain until she could cry and grieve after the Battle.

This enemy had some of their own artillery, bigger arrows whipped out by taillike appendages on some of the biggest ones. They lost a few whole companies to combined assaults before her Gold Banners and the Tanks managed to take all of the biggest ones down.

The last of them fell with those little shrieking hoppers, still firing arrows as they plunged over, scattering in a spread across the sand when the howdah impacted the ground not far from Carmen.

After that it was only a manner of time, as the Legion closed ranks and ground into the remaining enemy. They lost more lives as the enemy got desperate, but not as many.

She knew by now, they all did, that years of fighting had turned them all into killers that none of these fresh enemies could match. So they killed and kept each other alive when they could and kept on killing until another enemy was dead in the Arena, blood soaking into the sand.

Alain was getting things organized for their return to the compound while Kole was helping with the dead. The usual pattern after the fighting was over and the wounded were seen to.

She stepped over to help Kole this time, feeling wrung out from it all and especially from losing Jill. Who Carmen had encouraged to , had trained up until she met the standards. Who would never get to see her Bobby again.

Kole was helping a trooper to ease a shield under someone that had been stepped on by one of the biggest ones. It was mostly an oozing lump of metal and stinking crushed flesh.

Why does he always go to the worst ones? He has so much to worry about already…

But she said nothing, only reached her own hands out to steady the flesh lump as the shield scooped under it and some of the bloody sand.

Their Strategos had done his job again, having her tell Banners made up of hundreds of people what they needed to do to push the whole enemy off balance, to maneuver them to where they could be pinned down and crushed. If this was how he needed to walk back to the compound then it was his own choice.

She stepped back as Kole and the trooper raised up the shield between them.

There was pain in his eyes, and darkness, but mostly he looked distant and empty. She would need to check with his household to see if they needed help to bring him back to them again. It was getting harder every time but they were managing so far. Vrali even got him to cry sometimes, alone together at night, and that was better than nothing. Carmen had known him longer than any of them so they all talked it over after a Battle, and just before a Battle sometimes.

Helwyn still wanted to the fighters and Vrali did now too, so they could help him on the field, but Dilaha was firm that it would be worse that way. And Carmen agreed with her.

While a Battle was going on Kole didn't care about anything but victory. Couldn't care about anything else.

When they brought up ing the fight Kole just said it was impossible for technical reasons, but he never explained why and she wasn't sure if she believed him or not. Kole and his secrets. She wished that he would just tell them all everything so that they could all work it out together.

Carmen shook her head, looking around at her family as she walked not far from Kole and his burden. Some of her other brothers were even worse, like they could hide their own pain from themselves by drawing away from their family. Instead of sharing it with each other like they were supposed to do. Men could be so fragile. But she and her sisters and the better brothers would keep at them, making them whole again before the next Battle.

Before they had to do it all again. Only four more to go.

She noted faces and names as she walked along, looking for empty gazes and hard or withdrawn faces. Some of the worst ones were always back here with the dead, following Kole's lead.

Though she wished he wouldn't set this kind of example every time. Maybe she could get his women to gang up on him again, to talk him out of it.

Her own thoughts kept her busy as she walked, while her love for those around her kept a buffer against her own pain. Until she could let it all through her so she could heal.

The wound on her leg hurt as she walked but she ignored it. Soon it would be just another scar on her skin, like the burns on her face and body and all the scars from these Battles.

Twenty-Three

He bowed his head.

The time had come.

The doors of the entrance tunnel to the waiting chamber were just sealing shut; the full Legion of Terra stood ready for their final Battle. For the culmination of the Hundred Battles. They all had their special bronze weapons, painted grey to look like steel.

Kole sighed, once, and opened his eyes, raising his head to look around at the command group. They were all waiting on him.

He let his eyes drift around a bit and saw that every person in the Legion was facing at them, ranks all turned, watching and waiting. The command group was in their customary spot near the ramp, just behind a screen of Gold.

Fair enough. The judges are probably watching but they won't interfere.

He filled his lungs and let his voice ring out, speaking to them all. They all needed to know this much. "Our last fight in this damned arena! The purpose this time is simple. Get me to the Shard. When I kill the Shard-holder the Legion will dominate the field."

He turned as he spoke, looking back at them all as they looked at him, the ones that could see in the dim flat expanse of the chamber. Ending the turn facing Alain, carriage erect and eyes intent on Kole, he explained further.

"I've done it before! The day before the invasion one of the Vanyr Families sent out a small expedition as a political ploy. The Shard-holder challenged me to personal combat, on a lark. But I won! I am a Shard-holder now! I killed him and took his Shard, and I can do it again today!"

He let his hands rise up, arms extended, until they were framing Alain. "This is your commander today! Today I have only one job—today I'm just a trooper. Do your own jobs, let me do mine, and today we will have victory!"

They all heard. He had years of practice now and there was no need for an amplifyer for this. The Liseli had cut the power to their amplifyer anyway, some time back. There was a rustle of movement as the thousands of them slowly turned back into their normal formations. A low murmur of conversation broke out.

Alain had arched his brows at Kole, offering a sardonic look. Kole smiled wryly back, dropping the pose.

"Sorry, Ser. Commandant. But today you're in charge. The objective is to get me to the Shard-holder. The Wielder. They may try to hide her but I can feel where the Shard is. I can always sense when they use the Shard power around me and they can't hide a Shard in use from another Wielder."

He turned to look at the staff Major for communications, Major Joseph today. "If you would bring up trooper Farnagon, Gold Delta Second? He's just my size and we're going to change gear for this one." Turning back to Alain as the Major ed the word, he went on. "They might look for me on the field, as the normal commander. The scout gear should make it easier to get closer and Farnagon can stand beside you."

The Commandant pursed his lips before speaking. "So. I have the command. Which means that this will not be so simple as you say. What else?"

Kole stepped up to the older man and lowered his voice. "I have my own battleorb, powered by my own Shard back on Earth. A red Shard, the same as the enemy, and I can draw the entire output into my one orb."

He shifted a bit and felt the hard lump in his belly, again. "For this Battle their Shard is powering five thousand of them. You need to get me to the leader while as many of them as possible are under pressure, but also while as many of them as possible are still alive. To keep the Shard draw dispersed."

He met the eyes of his friend. "It's going to cost us a lot of our people. We'll need an all out assault just as a distraction. But if I can kill her then the Legion will win this Battle. If not then we're all lost anyway. Only the power of another Shard will be able to break through her personal defenses."

He got a slight nod back. Resolve firmed in the eyes of the other man before they broke the gaze. "Very well. A full assault, with maximum . Gold Delta will take the artillery from Tank, who will with Gold Echo to form breaching spearheads. One of those will get you to their commander. Just point that one out to me when we enter."

The Commandant bestowed a meaningful look around on the staff looking on, all leaning in close to listen. "What happens after?"

Kole nodded, twice, sorting it out in his mind. He'd been thinking about this for a long time.

"Four possible outcomes. One, I fail to kill the commander and the Legion is ground down. Even if you kill all the rest of them you won't be able to get through those personal shields, not fully powered and with a competent Wielder. A couple of times in the past a challenger has killed all of the Tegma but still lost, killed off one by one by the power of the Shard.

"Two, I succeed in that but don't manage to claim the Shard or incorporate the Tegma. If that happens the Tegma will go wild—you can't miss it. The objective then is to stop one of the other Vanyr from taking the Shard. Then kill them all. It will be costly but they won't have any organization left. The Legion will win.

"Three, I claim the Shard but go unconscious or otherwise can't use it. If that happens the Tegma will just try to defend me. You'll need to use your own judgment there."

He raised his hands close to his body, palms up. "Technically if that happens you should just have to kill the Vanyr, because the Tegma will become part of our forces. Play that one by ear."

Drawing in a breath, he nodded at Farnagon as the trooper came up and

motioned him to wait. "Four, I take the Shard and will be able to use it. The Tegma will be mine. If that happens I'll make them all kneel down in place. So you know—if they do that stop fighting the Tegma. Then we just kill the other Vanyr."

The Commandant gave a sharp nod as Kole started to trade gear with the Gold trooper. Turning to Major Joseph, he ordered, "Get that out to the Banner Majors for dissemination. Stress that we need to limit kills in the first part at least. Focus on crippling blows. Go."

Kole was just pulling on the last of it, with help from Carmen, when Tucker stepped in close to the staff group, tall standard swaying.

"Sers. We'll need a distraction. This big red hand makes a good one. What if we push straight at their standard, then the Strategos comes in from the side when they focus on us? Everybody knows the score, or they will before those doors open up. Not much call for a central command with this one."

The Centurion, though the third ranking officer, rarely broke in on the command group. They all paused as he spoke, listening, then the others looked to the Commandant.

Who nodded crisply before replying. "An excellent suggestion, Centurion. And a worthy gambit. We will offer them a prize to focus on, to distract them from the sudden blow. I will see to it."

Kole opened his mouth from where he stood by, then closed it again. Carmen was one of the staff majors today; his eyes flickered over her slim figure and

then away.

He straightened then and bowed his head again while they continued to talk, focusing inward to shut out the babble of discussion going on all across the chamber.

His Stillness came to the forefront, became the world as he plunged deeply into it. The Shard link was still there, always there in the back of his mind but shut away from his waking thoughts. The trigger he had placed there, for the otherwise inert the battle-orb taken from that very first Tegma, was still waiting.

He prepared himself for what was to come until the flows changed in the walls of the chamber to signal that the portals on the ramp were going to open.

They moved out into the arena. Kole spoke a few words to Alain and then drifted away. The Shard stood out clear in his Stillness, right under a large green standard beside the opposing ramp in the distance. The command group clustered around Alain and Farnagon while Kole stood aside and the screen ran on ahead.

His eyes took in a solid expanse of stone covered in shallow water. Small waterfalls were visible cascading out from places around the great wall of the arena. They were all splashing in it as they came down from the mound of the ramp. The screen running ahead was throwing droplets through the air in an expanding curtain as their feet went up and down.

At least the sky is clear. The day was sunny but cool, the same as it was outside the arena.

He felt a hand take his as he stood there watching, off to one side of the command group being raised up on their shields. Carmen was there holding his hand and smiling at him. He let the Stillness fall away some, as he noted the hulking form of Lance Orozco looming on the other side of her. "Major Rivia?"

"Kole. I'm in charge of your escort for this, and I brought an old friend to help out. We'll be moving out soon, but I just wanted to tell you something."

She clasped his hand in both of hers and smiled up at him again. "I love you. You're my brother. The Legion is my family and you're the one that made it possible. Made us get organized and got us what we needed from the Vanyr. We all made it here because of you. Thank you. Whatever happens next."

The Stillness shook and his throat tightened as he got out, "Carmen, thank you but—"

She jerked on his hand a little and he lurched forward to keep his balance while her own words cut him off. "Quiet, trooper. The Major is talking. I also want you to know that I saw you that night. In St. Louis. You didn't have to do any of this, but you snuck in to that cage for years of these horrid Battles. I love you for that too. Thank you."

"I saw it too." They both closed their mouths and looked up at Lance Orozco. He spoke so seldom it was like hearing the stone talk. The words came out accented and rough, but clear. "I was awake. It's time to end this."

One massive hand pushed forward, gripping a spear. "We will get you to the devil so you can end it. Now."

Then trumpets were blowing, calling the Legion to move, and they broke apart to listen and to watch the mirroring flags.

Carmen gave a sharp wave to some waiting troopers, a mix of Tank and Gold, calling out to get their group moving.

Kole moved along with them, thinking, They never said anything. He started to move faster after her, to tell her—

But he cut that off as the rhythms of Battle pounded at him, letting the Stillness take it all back. Let it take everything until his mind became one with the world, with his splashing feet and with every movement taken in by his sight, with every sound taken in by his ears.

The world went sharp and slow and he was all of it.

The mass of Tegma were moving toward them across the arena, pounding feet waking their own haze of splashes from the shallow water.

The Legion advanced to meet them in a broad front, with the bloody hand standard advancing to the center front, directly across from the big green standard in the center of the enemy.

Their smaller group curved over to the left, where the Blue Banners met the Red. There were similar groups of mixed Tank and Gold clustered across the rear of the Legion, just in front of Gold Delta hauling the artillery.

Soon enough the field pieces stopped to set up, but the Legion moved onward without a pause. Ahead of them flashes were breaking out as missiles from Gold Charlie met the massed battle-orbs of the Tegma.

Kole felt it all in his Stillness. The enemy Shard was pumping out a steady flood of power, its entire output, to link in each and every battle-orb to a full Shield that would meet the charge of the Legion. Phasing a wall of transitioned energy around their entire force, like the House Shield back at the Keep.

Heavier missiles from the artillery woke brighter flashes, in that familiar nearblinding scarlet, just as the mass of the Legion paused as one to resettle. They were thirty yards away from thousands of Tegma, all grinning in their stark battle joy and shouting at the challengers through the hazing screen of the Shield.

There was no need for a signal from command. Every trooper knew this business. Even the new replacements would be pulled along by the mass of veterans; they had seen it many times themselves back in the compound.

A flight of javelins arched out from the Terran line to hit in a blinding flash from the enemy Shield. Kole felt that there was barely a stutter in the Shard output. A Vanyr Shield could take much more punishment than this and those javelins were steel tipped. A second flight arched out to the same result but the Legion followed it with a single massed cry and broke into a charge.

Gold Charlie had split into two groups, running out around the enemy flanks to continue with harassing fire.

The rear Tegma were probably turning to face them, but the single mass of the enemy held steady in the long deep bar of their formed line. The Shield kept off those slings and arrows.

There was one huge flash as the lines met. Troopers rammed their own shields, wood-epoxy tightly wrapped in leather with metal reinforcement, into those of the Tegma.

Screams broke out all along the meeting lines, torn from human throats. But the Banners held firm, ed together in resolve and discipline and a deep abiding anger at the enemy that had broken their world. In one merged voice they shouted out as they shoved straight in to that fire.

As they did so they stabbed out with their spears. The special bronze heads met the Vanyr Shield, hundreds of them at once at hundreds of different points—and ed through.

The Tegma jeers cut off as those spears bit into their line. Human arms pushed out, plunging those sharp points into gaps in Tegma armor, cutting mostly at limbs as they tried to cripple their foes.

In his Stillness Kole felt the main shield dim as its integrity was weakened and the Shard-holder took in this development. But there was a renewed surge as the mind of that Wielder shifted the phase from a defensive barrier focus into fire and pain.

More screams rose up along the Terran line, from deeper ranks. The Legion shoved forward regardless, shouting out in groups as they stepped in to the enemy mass and their spears licked in and out.

A charred smell drifted past Kole on the gentle breeze, taken in to his Stillness just like everything else. The front rank might all be down at this point, burned past human endurance, but those behind them ground forward without pause.

Stomping on the corpses or near corpses of their comrades.

A hundred Battles they'd been together now. They all knew in their bones that discipline must hold. The trooper may die but the Legion would fight on. Their families were watching them, needed them to win, and they would not break.

Kole felt shame drift around him in the Stillness as he watched. He had planned for this. For all of it. But he let that through him just like everything else, unmoving and still as the world moved around him.

It all came down to this. His long gamble all came down to this day.

Breaches were starting to form in the enemy line, hard won by dead and dying troopers angling themselves and shoving ever forward. Tegma were on the ground all along the line, but he could feel that most of them were still alive, still drawing power from the Shard into their battle-orbs.

Then figures right around him were moving, but he felt hands grip his shoulders as he started to them.

"Not yet!" Carmen was shouting in his ear. The sound ed the oneness of his world as he reacted to their grip and stayed his advance.

Half of their group, fifty or so mixed Tank and Gold, were jogging forward in a wedge to drive into a breach ahead.

Carmen was pointing over at the Legion standard at the center of the Terran line. "We need them to break up some more! Tucker will move forward when it's time!"

She was right, he knew, tracking the Shield as it started to fragment, though she was talking about the visible solidity of the Tegma line. The wedge of their fresh troops pounded on past the Line troopers and forced their way deeper in. Five more wedges were doing the same thing across the front.

They were pushing well past the edge of the shield, threatening armored but unshielded forms within. He felt the battle suddenly change as that single ed Shield fragmented into thousands of smaller ones—as the Wielder let go of initial tactics in the face of the relentless Terran drive.

Kole shrugged them off and drew his sword, a leaf shaped bronze blade painted grey. "Now! We need to go in now! Signal command to move!"

He fixed Carmen with the intensity of his gaze as she started to protest. They were both pre-empted by Tucker. Kole saw past her and she saw as she turned to go that the bloody hand standard was waving back and forth as it pushed straight forward toward the dark green banner opposing it.

All along the deep line of the enemy individual Tegma were breaking into clusters to swarm at the nearest Terrans. He felt surges from the rear of the enemy at the same time. Gold Charlie must be into melee as well.

The artillery was still going but now it was bowling into struck Tegma, striking shields and hurling them apart. That would help to distract the Tegma not in any immediate fighting.

His band was running forward. He felt his body moving but that was just one with everything else as the world slowly advanced on his own position. Even after years of using the Stillness he had never gone this deep.

His own battle-orb poised in his thoughts as they neared the enemy, angling toward a gap just to the left of where command had clashed with a large group of Tegma around the enemy commander.

Then there was madness all around him, screaming faces and mangled bodies and flashing weapons and spraying blood, as his own band drove into the gap. He watched everything through a knot of Tank troopers walling him off into a pocket at the center of their band.

Carmen was just ahead, right in front of Lance Orozco paired with trooper Enkbat as they screened the front of Kole. She took down a charging Tegma that

somehow made it up to them, a quick motion of her shield sending it stumbling off to one side with blood pulsing out of one leg.

They pressed on. Tank troopers hurled themselves onto groups of Tegma, forcing openings in conjunction with Gold troopers going down low to trip and mangle. Always moving, they steadily lost numbers as the others fell behind.

Or just fell, dying to get Kole to where they all needed him to be. He could feel more Tegma dying, their draws on the Shard ceasing, but knew that far more of the humans were still going down.

The noise was deafening, a mix of screams and cries and red flashes and thousands of pieces of metal pounding away, with him right in the middle of it. His ears took in the sounds and they were all just part of his mind as he drifted steadily along.

In that Stillness he caught sight of the enemy Wielder. Her personal shield bloomed out in a visible blaze as she stood calmly surveying developments. As he watched she spoke calmly with another Vanyr, armor a near match to her own. Both wore dark green tunics over top, trimmed with white.

The remains of Kole's band had gotten back to just behind the enemy command group. A single line of Tegma screened the space between them and the enemy.

He was about to signal the others but they all just turned and charged straight on with him following. Lance Orozco and Enkbat both hurled themselves into the waiting Tegma, wrestling two of them aside to make a small hole between them.

Carmen darted through that just ahead of Kole and tumbled shrieking into the Vanyr next to the Wielder. They both fell away as the Wielder turned to face Kole.

She sneered in slow motion at him as everything slowed down even further, not even attempting to draw the sword still hanging sheathed at her side. He felt a flooding Shard draw as she started to reinforce her personal shield in the moments before they made .

The red haze contrasted with her short green mohawk hair above matching emerald eyes, sparkling like the Vanyr eyes do. The exotic beauty of her face froze there, twisted into a contemptuous rejection of his attempt, as his world seemed to halt completely.

One foot had left the ground as the other pushed him forward and his arm was extending into the lunge. The flat grey of his sword was about to meet her defenses when he triggered the battle-orb in the stillness of that endless moment.

Back on Terra, nearly every draw on his Shard ceased to flow. The nineteen Tegma kept theirs, but dropped to just tiny markers. Other than that just a merest hint remained for the House Shield to hold the doors, and a tiny flow into the Field-Mirror so they would know that he lived.

He could almost see them there in his mind, hunched forward in that crowded chamber as the display dimmed—but remained. He let that become part of him as a flood of power opened up into his own battle-orb.

A matching Shield sprang up around him, which met that of the Wielder as his lunge continued forward. Both shields hazed up with the meeting and a brilliant piercing light flash out from the two of them.

The Shield from his battle-orb was far simpler than the complex multi-layered construction mustered by the enemy, but he brought much more power to that single moment than she had managed to draw back to herself.

His blunt force was enough. The tip of his sword plunged in just after the Shields met, paint igniting from the remainder but the bronze metal continuing on. On, as it pierced the smooth skin of that forehead and through the bone into the brain beyond.

Kole was raising his own round Gold-style shield even as he saw this, tucking his face away while his body continued to move forward after the blade. He felt it when the thin bronze layer under the leather wrapping got hot, smelled the leather as it started to burn.

Their armor struck, her form already going limp as they fell together.

His battle-orb shattered, becoming a knot of sharp pain and fire deep in his belly. There was a burning deep within as the flow of power to the remnants of it continued for just a moment.

But the tattered remainder of the enemy Shield was dispersing; he felt the flows cut off from the thousands of other battle-orbs around him. The Tegma would soon break free.

Her Shard was embedded on the back of one of her gauntlets, covered over in scales of bronze. He left the sword in place and dug at the bronze with the hard steel of a knife to pop the glowing orb free.

Seconds had ed and his ears took in the mad howls of berserk Tegma. The Shard touched the bare skin of his hand and the whole world seemed to stop again.

He brought the new Shard into his Stillness. It started to open up to him before there was a flare from his old Shard, a protest of pure energy, and an answering flare in the new one. He drove his naked will between them to hold back the conflict.

The pain in his belly was spreading but there was no time for that now. Only life mattered.

In the great knowledge-tree of the Shard-Field of the Unity, he had found an answer for this. Hidden deep, near the very shadowed bottom just before the fires of pure energy that anchored and fed the tree. That same shadow, dark power a hidden counterpoint to the flow of Shard energy, was present here and everywhere the Shards could reach.

He drew it into himself, into his Stillness, and wrapped his two Shards apart. His mind trembled as he did so and he felt a door close deep within himself, a pathway cut off as he drew with deliberation on the anti-force. It didn't matter.

He plunged his mind into the new Shard, quiet now and just out of phase, even in his Stillness, from the old one. The markers of thousands of battle-orbs were fading but still present within, like an echoing memory of the imprint of this Shard.

Pulling a deep surge of effort from his own reserves, Kole gathered those thousands of markers back up. He forced power back into them, a flood of force from the new Shard that poured through his Stillness, and bound them all with the same command.

The crazed screams around him ceased, cut off amidst a series of thumps.

They should all be kneeling down now, to signal the Legion. Those around him were. He ignored them to look for the Vanyr that Carmen had tangled with, so close—

They were tangled still. As close as lovers, eyes wide in death staring into each other, light brown into deep still sparkling green. An older Vanyr, his face frozen in surprise. Hers was calm, resolute.

Kole felt something wrench inside of himself as this new pain eclipsed the growing fire inside of him. Tears blurred his vision.

Anger surged through him, a deep rage that seemed to bend and distort his very Stillness. His hand clenched on the new Shard and red light bloomed around him as a Shield sprang up between him and the world.

His feet pressed hard onto the stone of the arena, weighed down by a body growing heavy and foreign. The rage distorted his will, and he felt a twin pulsation from his two Shards, taking that hot anger in and feeding it back to him multiplied.

He started to reach out with a new command for his Tegma—

And lurched forward a little, as though someone had tugged him off balance. His eyes opened but there was no one there, could not be anyone there inside of his Shield.

He had moved a bit while focused elsewhere, and without knowing it had disturbed those nearest bodies and kicked aside the dead Vanyr. Carmen's body was laying there on its back now, eyes still open, staring up at him. Calm and resolute, but empty.

He was standing on her corpse.

Tears fell anew as he saw her, and the rage tried to rise again, but this time he let it flow into his Stillness and past his waking mind. It was part of him now. Fitting, because most of that anger was for himself. He had done more to kill her than the Vanyr had.

He stepped off of the body as he turned his will inward again.

Things to do, Kole. He closed his eyes as he focused on the words of his will,

then opened them, letting his Shield become clear so that he could see.

The Tegma were still kneeling, heads bowed, waiting for orders. The humans within sight were all watching him, some clutching wounds but all still watching, waiting. There was no more sound of combat, of clashing arms or violent cries or splashing water. The arena was the next thing to still, waiting.

He drew upon the new Shard again, giving his Shield several layers with distinct phasing. It was how the Center managed some of its best technology, with flows to different fields kept distinct but working together in cooperation. His feet left the ground as he manipulated the phasings and his Shield rose, bringing his encapsulated body along with it.

Maybe thirty feet up he paused the drift in place, turning slowly to survey the watery arena. The crystal triangle above their entry ramp glowed blue already. Troopers were watching him or turning to do so, though some were tending wounds or poking at the complacent Tegma with their weapons.

The Legion standard was close by, still upright, on the other side of a large group of kneeling Tegma, but he could not pick out individuals of the command group.

He drifted over, still above them all, to find Alain. Who was there, still alive, beside Tucker, carriage erect. They were both covered in blood but their faces were turned up to look at him, mouths hanging open.

Kneeling down in front of them in the same pose as the Tegma was a Vanyr figure. Kole's thoughts paused as he found the marker of that battle-orb in the Stillness, but then refocused. Time for that later. The ramp was green and they

had wounded.

Himself among them. The pain within him was wrapped in the Stillness but continued unabated, still growing.

Kole balanced his Shard flows for a moment, considering, then reached out to form two more transparent Shields and levitate the bodies of his second and third up to where he floated. They came up slowly, Alain locked into a rigid pose and Tucker clutching the standard with both hands.

Just as they reached him he wove again to amplify his voice to boom out across the whole of the arena.

"Banners of the Legion! We are victorious! We have proven the power of humanity, the power to defeat any other force in the Center! Help the wounded and gather the dead, for now we march back to our compound.

"All of these Tegma are with us now. Do not harm them, for they will fight alongside the Legion. Hail the victorious Legion! I salute you!"

He then dropped the amplification to look at the other two. Tucker was still clutching the standard and looking around with wide eyes, but Alain just raised his brows at Kole as he floated there in stiff aplomb.

"So. I did not dare to believe it. I thought that no one could defeat the Vanyr force, that you were lying about your secret plan. It still would have been worth

it. I was ready to die with the Legion today."

This came out coldly from that stiff face, with just a hint of the usual dryness. Then a wry expression broke out. "Well. What next, victorious leader? We go back to the compound and then where? Half the Legion may be dead from this, but of course we will fight on for our people." There was a bitterness in the voice behind the dry mockery, but also sad triumph. And perhaps a hint of awe.

Kole blinked a bit, juggling too many things and beyond tired, then let them all start to drift back down to the ground. "I don't know. This has never happened before. We should have the run of the compound for a while at least, then I hope to get us back to Terra."

He looked around a bit blearily as they settled back down, dropping the Shields and starting to gather the markers of the Tegma in his Stillness. "Get things organized and get us going, would you? I'll handle the Tegma but you might need to carry me out and get me to one of the tubs soonest. I'm bleeding inside and don't think it will stop on its own."

The Commandant looked to have several wounds of his own, but simply nodded and turned away to give out orders.

Kole was starting to sway on his feet but Tucker reached out one hand to steady him. The Centurion dipped the standard with his other hand, to indicate the kneeling figure of the Vanyr. "What about this one? We killed the others but he just went down frozen like the Tegma. Should we kill him now?"

"Maybe, but wait."

Kole found the marker of the battle-orb in his Stillness and pulsed a command to it with a touch of his remaining will. The Vanyr in front of him looked up and with the same motion used one hand to tip the helmet off and let it fall to the ground. Exactly as Kole had willed in his Stillness.

It was a young male, a boy really. The sparkling eyes were a green so light they were almost yellow. There was no expression at all on the thin face.

He made a choice. "Let him come with us, but have him guarded. He seems ok, but keep him away from me for now. I don't know if I can stop him if he goes for the Shard."

Leaning against the larger man, he closed his eyes to more easily concentrate. "Not much left now. I need to get the Tegma moving."

The world retreated from his Stillness as he focused on getting orders out to all of the surviving Tegma, to gather up the dead and wounded and follow the Legion back to the compound. To not leave one battle-orb behind.

Alain and Tucker could handle the rest. Darkness closed around him more and more tightly, and he finally let it swallow his mind as he felt hands lift him up and begin to carry him forth.

Rest took him.

Part 5

Twenty-four

Jorlin Border Keep under the Banka Strait. A new dawn.

Cassandra sat calmly upright, hands in her lap, as the Jorlin representatives filed in to the chamber and mounted the center stage. It was the same great chamber that the Hundred Battles had been displayed in, during the long years of that epic struggle.

Or so the people around her had labeled it while they all sat and waited.

Epic. I suppose. Though it was still barbaric nonsense.

From what she could tell all of the Earth humans in the Keep were present here, called for this special assembly before the workday started.

The people on stage were mostly Vanyr, though two were Svart and there was a Nidavell. No Tegma were present, which was unusual for the Vanyr who liked to have their bodyguards.

She noted that and wondered if it was significant in some way, as one of the Vanyr came forward to speak. A mature looking female and not one she had encountered previously.

The Vanyr woman looked stiff—all of those on the stage did with the exception of the Nidavell woman. Who seemed amused.

The rest carried the same stiffness and wounded pride that had punctuated her encounters with those of the Center since the Battles had ended with the surprise victory. Coupled with something like a hidden caution, even fear. In the weeks before that last Battle their general attitude had instead been more along the lines of amused superiority and overt pity toward the native humans caught up in hope and excitement.

Cassandra observed that if anything such attitudes were more pronounced this day, though she was wary as always about making snap judgments based on limited information. Perhaps the address would furnish more data.

The Jorlin lead representative bowed her head briefly, and when she looked up and began to speak her expression and manner had been transformed.

"Researchers and others employed by Family Jorlin. Native Terrans. You have our heartiest congratulations in regards to the recent victories by the human species in the Hundred Battles. Good show…it was just such a good showing. You must all be so very proud."

The words themselves were a bit stilted, but the tone and delivery were perfectly matched to easily flowing and well crafted facial expressions. Which shifted into a serious and sympathetic demeanor for the next portion.

"Unfortunately, there seem to have been some discrepancies in the application of the rules of the contest. As is clear to most everyone of the Center, given the… surprising events of the final Battle. Sad to say, but consensus is that some rogue Vanyr Family must have abetted with the human contestants to bring outside force against the Family Orning commander. Many look with grave suspicion upon Family Liseli.

"What exactly happened after that is unclear but surely must have stemmed from the same source—however it may have appeared to those watching. Suit has already been brought to the Court of the Anu in appeal. The Battle judges were obviously in error to award victory so quickly. We all expect the results to be overturned in due time."

With this the demeanor of the speaker shifted smoothly into another mode, still sympathetic but also appealing and reasonable.

"In the meantime, however, we are all faced with some inconvenient legal necessities. Prizes for victory have been awarded—in clear disregard of the ongoing suit—and the human challengers have opted to forego some portion of the offered rewards in exchange for a most unusual request. Most unusual. And most inconvenient for all involved, given that the victory will shortly be overturned and we will be left to attempt to reverse all of the damage caused."

Her acting ability is truly superb, Cassandra thought, flicking her eyes about to take in the response of the audience. A good portion of them seemed to be buying in to the facts as given. For herself, she felt amused but also some small sparks of hope at where this seemed to be going.

The Vanyr woman offered a wry expression, holding one of her hands palm up. "Now, I know that all of you will doubtless refuse this 'opportunity,' but we are

required by law to offer it to you. The supposed victors of the Hundred Battles, jolly good fighters for a certainty, have stipulated as part of their mistaken reward that every native Terran human be offered the chance to opt out of their present employment. Though they certainly don't give you a very good alternative.

"If you so desire, you can be returned freely to your place of 'capture'—I call it rescue, considering the things happening out there—or instead to a rather odd alternative location. Some random spot in the rough wild lands of the mountains near the eastern coast of North America.

"They don't say what you would do when you get there. There are no civilized outposts anywhere nearby. Just that 'food will be provided' and—now this next bit is silly but I have to say it—'to everything there is a season,' whatever that means."

With that she made a throwaway gesture, gifting a broad smile around at her audience, and immediately moved on.

"Now, anyone who wants to do that can make their way over to dome sixteen, where a Jorlin representative will make the arrangements. But the sane ones among you will all follow me to the celebrations that we have arranged for the occasion.

"Plenty of 'food will be provided' and no wild camping in the mountains involved. Just wine and dine and party until you feel like returning to your own civilized quarters, generously provided by Family Jorlin. You all do important work here, with better things to come, and we want you to know how much we appreciate you. So let's go!"

The final sentence was cast over her shoulder before the Vanyr woman stepped off the stage and preceded her escort up and out the main doors, smiling merrily and ening people to follow. Quite a number did, smiling along and apparently looking forward to a day of 'celebrations.'

And what are you celebrating, you poor fools? Your own slavery? Cassandra sat still, unmoving, as she watched them go. There were a number of people remaining in their seats once the initial crowd left, looking worried or speculative or just sitting there as devoid of expression as was Cassandra herself.

She looked around for a brief time, meeting the eyes of some people she knew better than most, then rose and walked with deliberation to a different exit. She would still have to circle around and walk past the 'celebrations' on the way to dome sixteen, one of the most remote locations in the outpost, but felt that the effort made a good statement.

Let the others decide for themselves. I have made my choice. She recognized the quotation that given to them as a message; others would also be able to do so. The meaning was unclear but very suggestive.

Cassandra had been present in that same chamber for the final Battle, sitting alone in the back to watch, though with distaste and some carefully buried dread. But the Battle had not gone the way she had predicted based on her observations.

Instead, she witnessed one of the human fighters kill the Vanyr leader. Kill her and take a specific object, some kind of gem. What happened after with the Tegma was mysterious and puzzling, but what that human fighter had done set

her curiosity to maximum.

A visible shield manifested. Then he flew, or at least floated, and made others do so as well. Clear indications for human use of Vanyr technology. Of human access to their primary power source.

I would very much like to meet this person. Per Dio, anything I find there will be better than sitting here with no stars to watch.

And if it was faked as she said then there will be seasons for me to do other things. There are good stars in the mountains, especially with no light pollution.

About the author

JD Jones has lived an eclectic life of varied experience, but hopes to put this at the service of the reader. Life efforts include creative work such as this, explorations in philosophy, ionate studies of history, somewhat bumbling but relentless forays into science and technology, and travel. The author its to being a sci-fi and fantasy geek, though not necessarily in that order, and currently lives in Illinois.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The world of Earth, the Realm Terra, as portrayed in the novel is a fictional one. As are the other Realms. But obviously the content is inspired by the real world. It is hoped that the reader will take note of any lessons or insights offered.

The novel is written from specific character viewpoints. Four of them. The opinions expressed and the choices made are those of the characters, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author.

Shards of Unity

Copyright © 2020 by JD Jones

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

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Publisher's Catag-in-Publications Data

Names: Jones, JD, author's

Title: Shards of Unity

Description: Sioux Falls, SD :Ruinoll Impressions, [2021]

Identifiers:

ISBN 9781735623337 (hardback) |

ISBN 9781735623344 (paperback) |

ISBN 9781735623351 (ebook)

Subjects: Fiction | Science Fiction | Fantasy | Military Science Fiction | Speculative Science Fiction | Adventure Science Fiction | Adventure Fantasy | Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction |Contemporary Fantasy

Table of Contents

Cover Image

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Part 1

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Part 2

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Part 3

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Part 4

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Part 5

Twenty-four

About the Author

Copyright