The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (101 page)

“We’d been fighting for more than sixteen hours already then, and I was really hungry, and I really had to pee.  I was angry and scared and tired, and I knew there were a lot of hours left in the battle yet.

“And I faltered completely.  I almost started crying standing there.  In the middle of a battle, while I was supposed to be exerting command, I called my mother.  Some commander I am.”

“And all I had to do was cast a mild Tranquility on you.” Alilia pointed out with a smile.  “That was enough for your determination to overcome your doubts.  You told them rather forcefully that you were Princess Valentia Longstrider of Hilia, that you were duly authorized to command them by the military authorities of The Just Alliance, that you had a combat effectiveness score of over two hundred and forty million with an intellect to match, and that while the stupid rules of this exercise prevented you from using that power against the enemy, no one had said that you couldn’t use it to discipline some stupid and insubordinate troops, all of them at once if necessary.  And they shut up and listened.

“And you enacted your plan and led them in a costly but victorious fight to plug the breach into the city.”

“Yah.” Val giggled as she wiped her tears away and tried to get her mood back to normal.  “And I cast a little funnel of Force inside my underpants with a tiny Gate in the bottom to the ocean just outside this cove, and I had a nice pee right in the middle of the fighting.  And after that I went and got something to eat.”

“Which you wolfed down in five minutes and got back into the war.” Alilia said with a laugh.  “You’re an incredible little warrior and commander, and we’re very proud of you, all of you.  All you children were incredible today.”

“Seven-year-olds are allowed to have moments of weakness, you know.” Mark told her with a chuckle and a gentle caress to her cheek.

“And I want you kids to know something.  Like all parents, we are determined, and have been since before you were born, that we were going to do everything in our power to keep you out of danger.  But we knew that it might not always be possible, so we decided that we were going to do everything in our power to ensure that you could defend yourselves against anything, in case we couldn’t be there to protect you.  That’s why we’ve had you, or should I say let you, engage in all the military training you’ve had.

“But know this and know it well; you
are
only seven years old, and there is no
way
I am going to allow you take part in any real battles like the one we fought today until you’re
at least
sixteen years old, which is the minimum age for military conscription for humans.  You’re too powerful and valuable to our military effort to leave you out completely, so you can float out in the void near the sun where the power is strongest, far from the enemy, and cast millions of automated attack spells to your heart’s content.  Which is where you’re most valuable anyway.  But we also have your personal and emotional development and well-being to consider, and I think that no seven-year-old should even have to go through the exercise we went through today, let alone the real version of it.

“If I had known what today was going to be like, I’d have seriously considered keeping you kids out of it.  I probably wouldn’t have prevented your participation if you’d insisted on it, but I’d have considered it.

“Having a better idea of what close combat with demons is really like, there’s no way I’d allow you to face it in reality until you’re old enough, unless it was absolutely and completely necessary.”

“I agree.  I’m not doing that again.” Val stated decisively.  “We’re good commanders, but our leadership isn’t so crucial that others couldn’t have done it.  I’ll take part in the exercises for Strike Wizards and the ones with the gods, but not ones like today.  As you say, I’m only seven years old, and no one can make me do it.  I’d do it if they let me use all my power and not hold back, but not otherwise.”

“Me too.” Fire nodded as she wiped away fresh tears.

“Me three.” Six added with a giggle.

“You know Val,” Karz mused, “Fire and Six have their own command style, but when you’re leading troops it’s almost like you’re speaking for your parents.”

“Oh?” she asked.

“I’ve noticed the same thing.” Povon agreed.  “When you’re being encouraging you sound like a young female version of Mark, and when you’re cracking the whip you sound just like Alilia commanding her elves.”

“Oh, well that’s good then.” Val smiled.  “Of course, Karz’ command style is exactly the same as Kragorram’s.”

“I do try to emulate Father exactly that way.” Karz chuckled.  “I like Mark’s style, which seems firm but friendly, wise and decisive yet almost inappropriately casual.  When he goes into battle it’s like he’s saying; all right everyone, lets go deal with this problem.

“Alilia has a somewhat regal and demanding expectation of obedience that’s entirely suited to her, and her people respond to it eagerly since she’s so decisive and her tactical judgment especially is amazing.  She instantly knows to a soldier how much force she needs to deal with a problem with the minimum of losses to her forces, and she sends that many and not one more.

“They both lead from the front and are inspiring fighters, even when limited as they were today.

“But when Father goes into battle, you know that he’s determined to make the most valiant, brave, and noble effort against the forces of injustice that anyone has ever engaged in.  I just love his old-fashioned, consciously and inspirationally valiant nobility, and the almost spiritual outlook he has toward his craft as a warrior and commander.

“Not to mention that his skill as a warrior is still absolutely breath-taking to me, and I’ve been watching it all my life.  His grace in battle is unmatched by any being I’ve seen.  If the organizers thought to limit him to the danger of fifty wizards, they failed.  Father would be far more dangerous than fifty wizards if his sword was nothing but unspelled steel, even without his fire and claws and teeth.  He must have butchered tens of thousands of demons today, or should I say, he sliced them with motions most efficient and artistic.”

“Your skill is exactly equal to mine, and at the rate you’re improving, you’ll best me before you’re even fully grown!” Kragorram laughed.

“How can his skill best yours when he copies your style exactly?” Povon teased.  “For that matter, our skills
are
yours, since we got them from you with the transference spell.”

“His skill may not best mine, but his size, strength, speed, tactics, and endurance surely will.” Kragorram laughed.  “And long before he’s reached half his full growth!”

“Now you’re just exaggerating.” Karz laughed, trying to be humble while basking in his parents’ praise.

“Perhaps, but if so, not by much.” Kragorram assured him.  “You’ll be the greatest dragon who’s ever lived, I’m sure of it.”

“One thing’s for sure, Karz.” Fire smiled as she rubbed his hand.  “With the limitations we faced today, you must have killed a thousand times as many demons as me.  I’d have done better if I could swing a twelve meter sword too.”

“True, but I’m a dragon, and among the dragons who fought today, my performance wasn’t that exceptional, not like Mother and Father were.” Karz protested.  “I’m as skilled as they are, but I’m still pretty small for a dragon.

“Whereas anyone who hasn’t seen you six fight before is in for a shocking experience, especially you three since you’re so young and small looking.  There was a giant who was killed today because he was standing there dumbfounded and saying holy crap as he watched you going through demons like a scythe through wheat.  He didn’t even notice the demons who tore his head off and ate it until it was happening.”

They all got a chuckle out of that.

“Well, I have The Skills of Visinniria.” Fire shrugged with a grin.  “I wonder a little how good I’d be without it, or how good any of us would be.  But I don’t really want to find out.”

“What I want to find out is how good it’ll feel to go for a swim, eat a big meal, and go to bed.” Mark declared as he stood with his family in his arms, and waited for the dragons to get out of the way before walking into the surf with them.

As they found, what he’d envisioned felt very good indeed.

Another week passed as they resumed their new routine, then they were visited at the Hilia cottage during a rainy afternoon by Amirgath and First Mauve.

Despite the weather, Mark and his family were working on the patio, keeping dry under a big bubble of Force and enjoying the occasional lightning strike and crash of thunder.

The two gods of different worlds floated above and beside the patio, seemingly unaware that the bubble of Force was intersecting their bodies.

“Good day.” Amirgath began, and made a reasonable respectable shallow bow.  “Today we will Translocate the spheres of The Triax into a circular path around Kellaran.  But it will be an exceedingly difficult project, and the greatest act of power ever attempted by the gods and mortals of Kellaran and The Triax.

“The difficulty lies not only in the power requirements, the extreme distance, and the complexity and speed of the motions of the objects involved.  There is also the consideration that a Translocation requires a complete knowledge of every bit and part of what is being transported, even if only as a subconscious gestalt.  Even the smallest of the worldlets of the Triax war fleet is half a kilometer wide and contains hundreds of millions of individuals, along with all their infrastructure, possessions, domestic plants, and livestock.  It is also full of liquid of a complex composition that circulates with a complex motion that must not be disturbed.  That is a great deal of complexity to be simultaneously aware of, and their largest vessel is some forty-three kilometers in diameter.

“Even with all of the gods of Kellaran and the gods and citizens and devices of The Triax, it is still such a titanic job that The Triax are hesitant to commit to it.  We are therefore recruiting the power of the citizens of Kellaran.  We ask that all the power of The Just Alliance be made available to this effort, and we ask that the finest mortal psionicists and Translocators come with us to the Triax worldlets to assist in the envisioning as well as the casting.  Which is why we are here now; your group represents a concentration of psionic ability.”

“Actually, I’m chagrined that I never thought of this before, but then, no one else thought of it either.” Mark told them.  “All of that is unnecessary now.  We can move the Triax fleet here through Gates.  As we said the other day when we advocated for a strike on the demons, we can cast immense Gates if we really work on it, way bigger than we need to bring the biggest of the Triax worldlets here.  We can do a Gate that big without even using automated spells if we get close to the sun to collect power.

“A Gate has a power cost for its size and its distance, but once it’s cast it’s just a window between two places.  It costs the same in power whether nothing goes through it or entire worlds go through it, and there’s no need to have any awareness of what’s going through.  In a lot of ways it’s a lot simpler process, and even though it’s a new spell-set, I’m sure it’s safer than Translocating things as big and complex as the Triax fleet.  And it’ll sure cost a heck of a lot less in power.  You also don’t have to trust that billions of very different minds are going to be able to Link or meld or whatever without a problem.”

“The only limitation,” Six volunteered, “Is that you can’t use a Gate to change the speed of something, unlike Translocation.  Whatever speed the thing that’s going in is doing when it enters the Gate’s portal, it’ll be doing exactly the same speed when it comes out the other portal.  You can use the alignment of the portals to decide the direction it’ll be moving when it comes out, but not the speed.  So if the fleet needs to be doing a different speed to circle Kellaran than they’re doing now, they’ll have to speed up or slow down before they go through.”

“Not so!” Fire stated, speaking up as soon as the idea struck her.  “All that assumes that the Gate’s portals are cast motionless relative to Kellaran.  Meaning you’d have to get out ahead of them and cast the portal and wait for them to fly through it.  But you can cast the portal moving with any speed you choose.  You can make it simple by just flying along yourself at the speed you need to change The Triax’s speed by.  If they need to be going faster than they are now in order to circle Kellaran properly, then you just get out in front of them and fly toward them while you cast the portal.  Your speed would be added to theirs when they come out, if the other portal is motionless relative to Kellaran.  If you cast the portal in front of them and moving away from them at less speed than they’re doing toward Kellaran, they come out slowed down.

“You could even change their speed and direction by moving both portals of the Gate at the same time, but the math on that gets pretty complex, now that I think about it.”

The suggestions seemed to render the two gods speechless for a moment, when in reality they were communicating the idea to many others who were very far away, giving their opinions, asking the others’ opinions, and waiting for consensus to be reached.

“We will have you do this thing.” First Mauve then proclaimed.  “Our vessels will need to be slowed.  We will provide you with the necessary exact placement, orientation, and speed of the portals.  We will begin the transfer with a very small vessel containing only a single mortal operator.  If all goes well, we will transfer the fleet.

“And we thank you, for both the suggestion and the service.”

“Glad to be of service.” Mark grinned.  “We can have it done in a minute.  After the work we did the other day, we’re well practiced in casting the Gates.”

“I will provide you with the required information in fourteen minutes.” First Mauve informed him.

“Hmph.” Amirgath went as he tossed his head a bit.  “I had hoped that this would be a great accomplishment that I would have a leading part in, but it will still be a great accomplishment.  The fourteen minutes will allow me to alert Kellaran to what is about to occur, so that we can properly welcome our visitors to our neighborhood.”