Deadly Wands (22 page)

Not bad for a bunch of women and kids.

CHAPTER 25

After sunset Uncle Richard arrived with a few
hundred quads and grim news.

"The bitch John mated with is now the center
of resistance. She comes from a large family. Many English
estate-owners lording it over the Scottish owe their land to her
access to the crown. They've been recruiting soldiers and hiring
mercenaries. The latest report says they number a couple thousand.
If true, they could move against London itself. The king needs
every warrior he can get."

"How far away are they?" Billy asked.

"About two hours southwest of here. We don't
know if they’ll move tomorrow morning or wait for more men."

"Then we’ll hit them late tonight. Sound
asleep is the best time to attack a man or an army. At best we
break them, and at worst we give the king more time and fewer
enemies."

Richard was not alone in noticing that his
twelve-year old nephew issued a command rather than make a
suggestion. Few knew he spent the last few years helping destroy
the greatest air forces the world has ever seen. Billy's problem
was that he looked his age without acting his age. But Richard knew
because he used Global Bank to help Billy and his father.

"Oh, I have something for you," Richard said
excitedly. He peeled off his backpack and took out a beautifully
crafted red suit of armor. "King Richard's grandfather gave it to
him when he won the national dueling championship as a teenager,
but the king quickly outgrew it. You said you needed a suit, and he
thought it may fit." Billy stared open-mouth at the gorgeous suit
like most people stare at a ton of stacked gold. "A famous
craftsman made it. Took him years and cost a fortune. It has
features that minimize burn-through."

"What's the catch?" Billy asked.

"It’ll only fit someone skinny. Dad got
thicker when he hit adulthood."

Richard helped Billy put the armor on.

"Oh, I needed this earlier today." Billy
walked around, popped up in the air, zigzagged over them, then
landed softly. "How can I get thousands of these?"

"We could set up a shop in London. We can
recruit the best craftsmen in the world."

"No," Billy replied. "I want one of those new
mass-production factories that England has made so famous. Better
armor will give us an edge over our enemies. Take one hundred tons
to get started.”

Richard, old enough to be his grandfather,
had trouble getting used to having a kid for a boss.

"Put up sentries and have someone wake us at
midnight," Billy said, walking away. “Susan, please keep an eye on
the enemy. Emily, would you help me take off my armor?”

Too horny to sleep, the teenagers took
advantage of their privacy. At midnight Billy addressed his troops
in the courtyard.

"My cousin Aidian was a busy boy. For weeks,
his foundry made steel arrows with heavy metal tips. They are light
enough to carry dozens of them; yet, unlike wand blasts, they fall
silently from the heavens. We can't leave them here or they may be
used against us while we sleep, so I propose we give them back.
Tonight. While the enemy sleeps in the open."

Billy blew up a three dimensional image of
the enemy campsite.

"Susan recorded this two hours ago. Judging
by the dying fires, they probably number a couple thousand. Most
are either mercenaries or retainers. The only ones who want to kill
King Richard are those related to Prince John's wife. In other
words, the rich farts spending this cold night inside the various
homes on her estate.

"Here's the plan: from five hundred meters
we’ll drop into a controlled fall, spaced ten meters apart, and
throw arrows at targets below. When you run out of arrows, start
blasting everyone below you. While two-wanders wipe out those
inside the buildings, the quads will either defend them or attack
the enemy from the air. I’ll lead a team against the most important
targets, the duchess and her father.

"If we wipe out the existing owners, it’ll be
that much easier for King Richard to reward his most important
supporters with their land, so make sure everyone dies. You won’t
get their stuff if you let any of them surrender. Victory must be
total for it to translate into lasting peace, but don't burn the
buildings because you may soon own them. After we’ve won, search
every person and room for valuables. Just because we risk our lives
doesn't mean we have to do it for free," he said to great cheers.
“The difference between rebels and revolutionaries is success.
Follow me and we’ll end this insurrection tonight.”

The crowd roared, eager to pump themselves up
before killing a bunch of strangers.

Billy pulled the Matriarch aside. "After we
remove the threats in the mansion, find the vault. Divide whatever
we find equally."

The two-wanders took off first, since quads
can easily catch up. Billy left last since he could fly the
fastest.

They dropped from a kilometer up. Soon,
thousands of steel-tipped short spears sought out enemies. A few
hundred meters later the sky thundered with a tremendous volley
that smashed the surface below as if the Sun vomited. A firestorm
sought out anyone dumb enough to fire back. Everything flammable
burned bright. Most stared up in shocked disbelief, unable to
comprehend a seemingly supernatural phenomena. Others fled as if
the devil himself attacked. The few who shot back died quickly and
survivors flew blindly into the woods, often slamming into trees in
the dark.

Billy saw an old woman with a wand stick her
head out the window. He chopped off her head as he landed, then
blasted at the shadows inside. He entered and kicked in the door to
the next room, firing at a couple sitting up in bed. He heard other
blasts as Richard, Emily and the Matriarch blew through the front
door. The memory of his dying father in mind, Billy blasted room
after room. He came upon an unarmed boy no older than himself and
engulfed him in a ball of fire, giving the enemy no more mercy than
they’d give him.

He found an old lady cursing Richard in the
grand entrance by the stairs. This had to be the duchess, whose
family had Billy’s father killed. The others were blasting
upstairs, so Billy thrust steel through the old lady's midsection
to shut her up. She fell and turned to see who stabbed her
literally in the back.

"You!" she accused Billy.

"You!" he accused her back, smashing her jaw
to shut her up for good. "Go help the others," he barked at
Richard, who looked strangely sluggish at this authority figure who
intimidated him his entire life.

Billy flew to the nearest fight outside and
savaged the enemy. Instead of one grand battle, dozens of fighters
fought individual duels on their own. Billy's wand signaled
"attack" and his quads overwhelmed the pockets of resistance, then
chased those who fled too slowly. If the entire enemy fought as a
group, they may have won, but too many fled, so the bravest died
first. Billy chased down enemies until past dawn, his energy, like
his rage, inexhaustible.

He found his team still celebrating their
painless victory. The Matriarch carefully counted out the vast
treasure they found in the vault, each of them estimating their
share. People he just met hugged him. Many had apparently been
living on the edge of poverty and couldn’t believe their good
fortune -- which was literally a fortune to them. Billy felt bad
for not sending them money long ago.

While Billy ate breakfast, Richard told him
the Matriarch needed to show him something in the mansion. He
entered the master bedroom to see Susan holding a baby girl. She
did not need to explain the dilemma. If Billy wanted the baby dead,
he’d have to do it himself. Billy's reaction surprised her. He took
the baby into his arms like a new father.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Knowing that he just
had her parents killed did not bother him. "Susan, I'll pay a kilo
a year for eighteen years if you find someone to raise the baby as
her own. But she can never know who her real parents were.
Agreed?"

As if the Matriarch had an alternative. They
couldn't just leave the baby here. And he offered more than most
families earn.

Susan was so moved that she shocked Billy by
kissing him on the forehead.

CHAPTER 26

Much to everyone's relief, the threat of
civil war passed as quickly as it came. One night England went to
sleep with a queen, then woke up with a king. Billy wanted to
contrast the bad old queen with the good new king, so he
practically emptied Global Bank vaults in France and Spain to boost
the English economy. He loaned a thousand gold tons to his
grandfather to build infrastructure, schools, and hospitals and
ordered Global Bank to buy good land. With more money than he knew
what to do with in the Americas, Billy arranged for a ship in the
Atlantic to bring a mixture of gold, silver, and bronze coins to
Global Bank in England.

But the prospect of fame scared Billy like
influenza. This forced him to order everyone to delete all images
of him. Billy survived through anonymity -- the distribution of his
image could jolt Genghis Khan into discovering that the Boy Wonder
didn't die in Peking after all.

Billy needed to disappear. Once again, he had
to become someone else. Ironically, fame forced him to flee the
country like his parents. Except this time he flew with his uncle
Richard to Dublin to get his wands, then find the new division of
American marathoners. The first division was still in Siberia
playing cat and mouse with half a million Mongols.

They found their camp easily enough, but he
only counted seven battalions. Most crowded around an air field to
watch an American football game -- where teams score by moving a
ball past their opponents. Billy saw a player levitate the ball to
a teammate a few hundred meters above him, who promptly passed it
in an arc to a receiver diving steeply. She caught it with her wand
before it hit the ground and raced passed the defenders to score a
touchdown.

They told him the division commander was the
big guy in the dueling area. Billy and Richard signaled a greeting,
then landed far enough away to appear non-threatening. Billy
recognized him at once.

“Tiny! It’s me, Shorty.”

“Shorty? Nice suit! Are you sure it’s red
enough? You going to a dance later?”

“Willy died, so I’m your employer now.”

The huge Indian broke into tears before his
commanders. This was a quad so tough that ten thousand marathoners
chose him as their leader.

“The bastards got Willy? How?”

“Queen Margaret assassinated him, so I killed
her and those responsible. England now has a new king.”

“The English got Willy? Why?”

“They thought this division was coming to
overthrow them.”

All the battalion commanders came from the
first division, so Billy knew these guys. Or thought he did. The
news melted them like butter. Tiny unsteadily sank to the
ground.

“How many times did Willy save us?” one of
them wailed.

“The man could read Genghis Khan like a
map.”

“Best guy I’ve ever known.”

“Saved the lives of every American. Genghis
would’ve exterminated the entire continent, for sure.”

“I can’t believe the Baron’s gone.”

“He was a giant,” Tiny agreed.

Billy had no idea. Well, he knew the troops
liked his father, but he didn’t know they loved him. This was more
than hero worship.

“Were you two together long?” Tiny asked
Billy.

It took a long moment to understand what he
meant. Because they slept next to each other and neither slept with
women, the troops assumed they were gay.

“Willy was my father.”

They reacted like he lit up a room. Some
laughed while others apologized. It all made sense now.

“Your father was a dad to all of us.”

“The Mongols cannot know that Willy is dead,
so I’ll be the Baron from now on. You must convince the new guys
that I’m the old Baron.” Billy waved to his uncle. “This guy
represents Global Bank. Anyone who doesn’t already have an account
needs to sign up to get paid. I’ve brought some great wands for you
all to fight over.”

Excited now, Tiny shrieked his wand to call a
leadership meeting. Unit commanders soon crowded around them. “This
is the Baron. Protect him as if the lives of every American depend
on it.”

Everyone cheered and wanted to shake his
hand. Rather than be crushed by their affection, Billy dumped the
wands before them.

“You only get one set, and you must donate
your worst backup set to the group. I have a simple rule: the
stronger quad gets the better wand, so if two or more fliers
contest a set, he or she who can extend flame longer gets
them.”

Instead of giving the strongest wands to the
weakest marathoners, Billy preferred to give them to the strongest
fliers since they’d have the most dangerous missions.

Billy and Richard left to get something to
eat since the marathoners would not pay attention to anything else
until they settled who got which wands. When they returned in the
morning, the troops gave him a standing ovation. Another battalion
had landed, so he introduced himself by doing his infamous scream
and fire dance. Richard, who had never seen it in person, turn
ghostly white.

“You should see the Mongols’ reaction!” Tiny
joked to much laughter. “Shorty, you should know that American Jack
tried to steal some of us. We already signed our contracts, but the
next class may graduate next year, so you may want to hire them now
before Jack recruits them for his invasion thing.”

“What could he possibly be invading?”

“Africa.”

Billy laughed. “Africa? With a few thousand
marathoners?”

Tiny shook his head. “He’s been planning this
for years. They say a million quads and their families are willing
to move there to deny African resources to the Mongols. Gold,
diamonds, lumber -- the Khan is stripping the place. Jack wants to
take their operations to bankrupt the Empire.”