Uleni's Gamble (13 page)

Luis frowned and said, “My mages will not learn from a witch.”

He rolled his eyes and prayed to Cytherea for patience. Sometimes he wondered about the stupidity of not seeing women as equals on his new world, but to be fair, his world was just as bad, if not worse in the middle ages. There were still many countries as well that considered woman chattel to this day.

He said carefully, “They will not be, we are here to simply escort them to the mages that will teach them.”

He carefully left out the fact those mages were trained by Nora and Sally, he didn’t think it a good idea to mention it. He thought Luis might decide the knowledge was tainted or something equally stupid.

Luis finally blew out a breath and nodded. Apparently they wanted the knowledge and peace badly enough to overcome whatever prejudice was there, or at least temporarily set it aside. He knew that was probably more to do with them fearing he would invade at the head of an army, and take their kingdom. He could do it after all, not that he ever would, but they were judging him by their morals. He admitted he did kind of bully them to get them here.

Sally took his hand as they walked and gave him an intense look. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to slap him or jump him for the way he defended her. Women were strange that way sometimes, they could go either way. He was hoping for the latter.

The afternoon went slowly while they showed all the different ways they were using to fight magically from a distance with non magical damage and projectiles. They were a little arrogant and condescending toward his mates, but they stopped short of insults, so he sighed and put up with it.

At the end of the day, they left with the promise one mage and Luis would come back tomorrow to continue discussing the treaty. Apparently one of them was a travel mage, because they all disappeared shortly after.

The other mages had learned what they needed and wouldn’t be back. They retired to their rooms and took dinner in their suite and packed for the trip. It would be a long travel day tomorrow, which wasn’t a bad thing, he would finally have time for his mates during the day as they walked. There hadn’t really been enough time with just evenings and nights free the last few days.

*

Cytherea sighed deeply. She could feel Ares attempt to break through the protections she had put up around her realm. He had come back to her twice and spouted off his arrogant vitriol before she had enough and banished him. Now he couldn’t even get in. She shook her head and hoped she had never been that bad, though she thought she probably had been.

The best comparison she could come up with was that he was a petty spoiled brat who wanted to break her toys because she wouldn’t play with him. It was ridiculous.

She had faith in Justin, believed he would defeat the army and Riese. She wasn’t sure about the anchor yet, the talent she had given him, and the other Flames from the past, was more about burning out the darkness, and cutting off the entrance from another universe.

He may not be able to do the same with the other anchor, she wasn’t really sure. To be more exact, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to break it through him. Ares was strong, and he had his own world and followers to draw strength from.

She felt a presence appear behind her and said, “Hello father.”

She knew he would not be able to help her, but she still drew strength from his presence, she would not give up the world she loved without a fight…

*

Riese left the capitol of Egeria with four thousand troops at his back. He guessed he would have close to seven thousand in total when they reached the camp by the border. He turned and smirked, a number of them had a woman thrown over their shoulders. They would need camp followers.

There was another reason for it though, one he hadn’t foreseen. After a week on the road he had gotten rather rank. Without magic, they would have to come up with other ways to stay clean and keep the camp sanitary. Right now, they had women for that with cleaning talents, but once he forced the normal citizens to convert, they would no longer have that ability, so it was a stopgap measure at best.

He hated to waste his time on such a thing, but he knew it was important, a disease could take half his army out of action. He wasn’t worried about the actual fighting, he had seven thousand which was more than what Abelaweth currently had available, and they would be crippled fighting without magic.

The capitol itself had gone easier than he had imagined, he took the time to hold a small one day tournament, and put the best warrior on the throne there. Any mages that hadn’t sided with him and his god had been put to death, so his new puppet king shouldn’t have any problems.

He did have a twinge of doubt, without magic it would be much harder to spy, so he really had no idea what the enemy was planning. He wasn’t too worried, the Flame had been helpless before him, as had his witch and the other bitches that surrounded him. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on them and get his revenge from his embarrassing loss of a huge invasion force.

He wouldn’t have to wait too much longer, once the training was done, the world would tremble at his coming and the people would turn against their goddess and her worthless Flame… Then, he could finally get his revenge…

*

Sara was more than happy about what happened the other day. She had finally slept with him, and since then she just wanted more. She was insatiable. She was also surprised at how turned on she had been watching Katrina pleasure him later that same night.

She was not completely over things yet, she might never be, the second time they were together she had pulled him on top of her, then immediately panicked as she felt trapped. Still, she was getting better, and once she calmed down she had taken the top again.

They had been walking south for a few hours when Justin joined her. She could still hardly believe he would want her, after all that had happened, but was assured by the love coming from him.

She took his hand and squeezed it, then said, “I think I am going to be mostly useless this time around. My talent can’t be used indirectly and I’d be more liable to stab myself than an enemy if I had a weapon.”

He smiled at her and said, “Actually I wanted you to do something for me, if you don’t feel uncomfortable about it?”

She smiled, “What?”

He talked low so only she would hear, “All of these new weapons and ideas will work great against those with no magic, but for someone with magic it would be incredibly easy to sabotage. If you could keep an eye out with your talent? I don’t think anyone would betray us, but I can’t put everyone’s life on the line on that assumption.”

She frowned, she hadn’t considered that, but a mage or air talent could mess with the enchanted bullets, or an earth talent could destroy all their weapons given a minute or so.

She nodded uncomfortably. She hated to think anyone might do something like that, but had to admit it was possible. Plus, it would make her feel useful.

“Yeah, I can do that, maybe…”

He grinned, “What will it cost me?”

Her smile was half bashful and half brazen as she said, “Some nice soft rope, for later…”

He just laughed and nodded. She had been mostly joking and trying to flirt with him, something she still found hard to do, but she was almost positive from his feelings he would actually do it.

They talked for another hour or so about things before he headed off to one of his mates. Then she found Trina by her side and smiled…

*

Trina was getting a workout. She was half hearted at best when she offered more conventional weapon training with Justin’s mates as part of her plan to change. She had no idea what a blast it would be. The idea being not using magic, she was also finding it somewhat of a challenge. She had honed her instincts and reactions to what her talent told her. She was still very good working off just sight and sound, but it was an adjustment as well.

For instance, Katrina couldn’t get close to her with the blade, but without her talent she hadn’t seen the kicks coming until it was too late to dodge the first few times. She still hadn’t lost though, taking a kick to the face or not.

She sighed as the temporary camp broke down after lunch, and they started marching south again.

*

Justin couldn’t have been happier as he caught up with all his mates on what they had been up to over the last few days while he was busy training soldiers. Relationships took work, and he hated when he didn’t have the time for it. He hoped once this was handled the largest emergency would be healing broken bones. He didn’t get nearly a long enough break after the original Egerian invasion before this new crisis hit.

He didn’t mind the effort he had to put into his relationships, as effort went, spending time with his mates could be barely categorized as such. If he begrudged anything it was the time he was forced to spend apart.

They moved quickly the first three days, although not at a run. It took them five days to get down to the border before they could start preparing their defenses. He thought they would do well, but he was worried about the villages if they did not. He talked Anton into sending out four squads with an earth talent to help protect the villages, raise walls around them and such at the least.

He was under no illusions though, if the enemy caused them to fall back, flee, or worst case destroyed them, the walls would slow them at best. Still, he didn’t think it would hurt. It would also give the villagers a chance to flee north temporarily if they knew what might be coming. He sighed. Military strategy dictated you don’t leave a force behind you, but he knew Riese was more than a little unbalanced.

He hoped there was no chance the enemy would ignore them and pass them by, but it had to be considered. They did have scouts along the border though, so they would get notified quickly if that happened. He thought it unlikely though, even beyond strategy, Riese was just too arrogant to think we stood a chance.

Chapter 11

Katrina was a mile or so away from the camp, in her tiger form. She still needed daily runs to keep her sanity, hunting for the tavern dinner or not. Especially being pregnant, she found herself short of temper recently as her body went through the changes. She figured if she was this way during early pregnancy people better look out when she started to show.

She had improved markedly over the last two weeks during sword training with Trina. But it still wasn’t the same, she could not wait until they got rid of Riese and the god he had brought here. At least she wouldn’t feel helpless or nervous when they attacked now. She was still faster than most in human form, and Trina had worked with her, using her speed instead of strength to fight.

So far, her and Nicole were the only two pregnant. It had been ten days since he mated with Nora and Sally. Still, half of them on the first try was impressive, she didn’t think it would take much longer though, if they weren’t already. They had been waiting and training another five days since reaching the border, and she just wanted it over with, though, this battle would hardly be the end of it…

*

Nora was shocked Justin hadn’t yelled at her yet. As the week went by she had spent less and less time away from him, shadowing his every move. It even bothered her to be apart when he was fucking his other mates, but she stood right outside the privacy curtain in their large tent when that was going on. It bothered her that she couldn’t hear anything, of course, part of her was glad she couldn’t as well.

It might have distracted her after all. She knew why she was doing it, she was terrified she would lose him. She had been trying to work on that, overcome it, perhaps she never would. When this crisis was over, she would be able to take a step back, but not before. If she failed she would make sure she was dead first.

He was a lot more patient and understanding than she was, she would have kicked his ass by now if he wouldn’t give her any space…

*

Nicole was flying above the camp in circles, keeping a watch out. She was also focused inward on the last few days in the capitol almost two weeks ago. The good news was during the time she spent with her father, he no longer treated her like a little girl.

The bad news, is it was taking them time to define their new relationship, and had been a little awkward actually. As if he didn’t quite know what to make of her now. She was hoping that would change over time, she still wanted to be close to him but they needed to work that out.

She spied movement to the south, a large group of soldiers moving at speed. She let out a warning screech in her bird form and the camp below her seemed to jump into action. The enemy did not seem to be stopping. When she saw Sally take to the air, she landed and changed, and made her way to Justin and the others.

*

Sally wanted to stay with the others, but Justin convinced her she could protect them better from the air, as she had some ability with weapons, but not enough to stand toe to toe and fight.

Right now, it appeared their army was just standing in an empty field, in formation, and waiting for the enemy to show. She knew that wasn’t the case, the area was riddled with traps and planned responses from the mages and earth talents to keep the enemy distracted and slow them down. It might even be said their force was nothing but bait.

She watched as the enemy charged into what Justin had called a minefield when the lines were five hundred yards apart. Their front lines were decimated, behind them, they took a few injuries, but nothing serious. The enemy started to slow down and stopped for a moment.

She heard Riese shout, “Shield wall and advance!”

A number of soldiers with large shields moved to the fore and slowly advanced. Because of both the shields, and slowing down, they stopped taking major damage. At most, a few took damage to the ankles and below, holding their shields too high, and were taken out of the fight.

She reached down with her magic and set off one of her traps. The air was filled with stone spears arching up from their flanks and falling within the center of their forces. She lost her connection to the stone, but didn’t need it anymore as it started to impale the enemy troops.