Deadly Wands (59 page)

Billy had never felt more vulnerable.

“You’re a genius!” Prince, of all people,
yelled at him over the shouting.

“There’s no such thing as genius,” Billy
yelled back.

“Well, as a genius,” Bear quipped, “you
should know.”

Mali found him later: “I’m leaving now.”

“But I haven’t even met our kids.” He patted
the big belly on her thin frame. “Can’t you wait until the baby is
born?”

“No, but you can always visit me. I’d have
returned a year ago if it wasn’t for you. I wanted to thank you for
all that you have taught me.”

“But you were a pretty good quad when we
met.”

“Not dueling. Tactics. I was too obsessed
with fighting to even think about how to lead warriors in battle.
You make it look so easy, but never once did I think of a solution
before you.”

He gave her a hug for the first time.

“We’ll probably never meet again, so can I
see your face? I promise not to record it.”

Billy sighed. They went into a tent and he
flashed his baby face.

“But you’re so good looking!” Mali squealed,
undressing him for one last bedding. “I thought you’d be
hideous.”

It was the first time Mali ever made anyone
laugh. Even her babies looked at her like, really?

The next morning, Billy finished the speech
he tried to give the day before:

“How many of you assumed you’d die fighting a
war we could not win?” Billy hovered above them, his amplified
voice reaching thousands of people below him. “I have a proposal.
If I can convince you today that we’ll win this war and end the
Mongol Empire forever, then you must agree to follow me until we’ve
won. If I haven’t convinced you, then I release you from any
obligation to follow my command. Agreed?” They roared up at him
like wolves at a full moon. Billy struck a pose and bellowed
angrily as if he couldn’t hear them. “Do we have a deal?”

There were only four thousand of them, but
they sounded like so many more. Satisfied that he gripped their
balls in his fist, Billy satisfied their lust.

“Genghis has hosted the Olympics every four
years for three centuries. We have two and a half years before the
next one. I will make a video asking for marathoners to join me in
Anchorage, Alaska, three months before the Olympics. The best will
receive free world-class body armor. Every other quad in the world
will go to Peking just to see us duel. Grandma, I need you to
organize the marathoners. Work them as if their lives depend on it
and we’ll have the largest long-distance force in history.”

Oh, he had them now. He could feel their
excitement. He just gave the world their next obsession.

“Why wait for the Olympics?” Blade asked.
“Why not kill the Khan now?”

“We need the Khan to scare the new kingdoms
into setting up their new governments quickly. Without a credible
external threat, rival factions will fight for power instead of
figure out how to share power.

“The smart move is for Genghis to spend the
next two years building up his strength. Which gives Europe,
Persia, India, China, and Korea time to sort out their own affairs,
but with a deadline. If Genghis prevails, then they need to be
strong enough to survive without the Baron. I hope this will give
them a sense of urgency to get their acts together.

“We also need a way to identify Mongols
willing to kill for their Empire. Those of Mongolian ancestry who
want to stay out of the war need only leave Mongolia, Manchuria,
the Stans, Siberia, and Northern China. Anyone who stays is an
enemy.”

“Every anti-Mongol marathoner in the world
will join us!” Bear predicted. “You could have a quarter-million
marathoners.”

“Millions more will go see you duel him!”
Princess added. “Foreigners will swamp Peking. Everyone with a
grudge will go kill Mongols before they become extinct. You’ll have
millions of warriors that you don’t have to feed, house, or
pay.”

“What else are you thinking behind those
devious blue eyes?” Grandma demanded.

Billy smiled as if she complimented him. “I
plan on offering northern China as the stakes. If Genghis wins, he
gets to keep northern China. If I win, the government in southern
China gets to govern China’s historical territory.”

“Every Chinese will see this as a fight for
their homeland!” Prince predicted. “Nothing could motivate them
more. Even the women and children will come armed. You are
brilliant!”

“American University will continue training
quads. With this epic duel to help recruitment, we could have half
a million Americans attacking Mongolia.

“Having so many Americans and Chinese will
make it easier to persuade neighbors to join the Last Battle of the
War. Imagine millions of Europeans, Persians, and Arabs attacking
from the west, Americans from the north, Chinese and Indians from
the south, and the rest of Asia from the east.”

As usual, Grandma was a step ahead of the
others: “Red, you’re using a duel as the foundation to build an
unstoppable coalition! Millions of quads, coming from every
direction, could exterminate the Mongol Empire permanently. We
could actually win this thing!”

Grandma sounded surprised.

Thousands of tough veterans cheered while
hundreds more sobbed. Until this moment, most of them never
expected to win. Then the damn hugging started as the prospect of
finally fulfilling their vows to dead loved ones appeared within
reach. They were gonna end a brutal world war that ruined lives for
over three hundred years.

Billy rose higher to emphasize something: “I
want everyone here to transfer every relevant video to document
your personal war story. I want future generations to see how
devastating war can be, and what heroes can do to stop it. And
that’s what you are: heroes. You risked your lives to save people
who haven’t even been born. You beat the world’s most powerful,
most oppressive, more brutal military. Leave me your videos before
you leave here. I’m gonna name this collection, The Baron’s Heroes.
I hope to make you all so famous that you’ll never have to buy your
own drinks ever again.”

That seemed to humble them.

“I can’t go two years without killing
Mongols,” Bear complained once the cheering subsided. “Ever since
they slaughtered my babies, I feel guilty unless I’m avenging
them.”

Billy held out his hands to calm them down.
“I’m giving you a vacation, not unemployment. We haven’t won yet.
The more we kill now, the fewer we have to kill later. Any
marathoner who wants to kill Mongols should meet me in Anchorage in
the spring. Travel light, but bring all your anger.”

That night he took Princess and Prince aside
so no one else could hear them. He could tell the prospect of a
long break thrilled her.

"When is our third baby due?" he asked.

"February.”

"Then we should get married on my
18
^th
birthday, March 11, in England. I’d like my
grandfather, King Richard, to attend.” The twins looked at him
completely bewildered. “Oh, yeah, I never mentioned this, but my
father added two years to my Mongolian birth certificate, which is
why we had to wait so long to get married. I wanted it to be legal
under English law so our kids would be English royalty. It’d be
hilarious if Harry and Elizabeth became a prince and princess.”

Expecting a fierce hug for scheduling a
wedding date, Princess instead slapped him so hard in the face that
she left a hand print. No one struck him that hard since his
mother. Prince laughed so much he fell on the ground.

"You bastard! That's why you wouldn't marry
me? Because you weren't old enough? Why didn't you tell me?"

Which explained the bitchiness that Billy had
blamed on the pregnancies. Now she cried again, forcing him to hold
the girl who just whacked him.

Relationships are so unfair.

“Brother,” he said to Prince, “Do you want to
get laid?”

“My sister turned you gay like Blade?”

It shocked Billy just how likable Prince had
become. Even Mali could stand him now. “I want you to come with us
to breed with England’s and Ireland’s best quads. I’ll even finance
the child support.”

Billy sent Chinese ships to deposit shiploads
of wealth to his banks in Europe. Even Jack couldn’t figure out how
to spend it all.

Prince smiled. “I can get even with the guy
doing my sister? You have yourself a deal, whatever-your-name
is.”

“Billy,” he said, finally taking off his
mask. “My parents called me Billy.”

Prince thought that hilarious. “The most
feared man alive is a scrawny teenager named Billy? What -- was
Timmy already taken?” Prince couldn’t stop calling him names. Like
Rupert, Albert, Edwin, and Alvin. “Genghis Khan is scared of a boy
named Billy!”

CHAPTER 77

Billy, Prince, and Princess landed before the
Matriarch’s front gate. Emily screamed, ecstatic to see him again.
She already delivered their sixth baby and was eager to start
another. Billy held out his arms and she leaped into them, kissing
him on the mouth with the passion of a newlywed. To his credit, he
turned his head and tried to pry her off him. She backed off
confused, saw the pained expression on his face, then noticed the
pregnant woman next to him. She assumed the lady was with the guy
who looked so much like her. She looked ready to burst any day
now.

"The fiancée I told you about..." Billy began
before Emily screamed in horror at her blunder, then ran red-faced
into the house.

“She’s in love with you,” Princess concluded
with a deep sigh.

“My parents approved the match before I even
hit puberty,” he weakly explained.

Billy’s kids with Emily now ran out, shouting
“daddy!” The five, four, and three year olds tackled him with such
enthusiasm it made him cry. The two year old led the one year old
by the hand, who looked up at him like he was a giant. Later,
inside, the twins would see Billy’s baby face actually on a
baby.

Billy, eager to change the conversation,
whispered to William, his oldest kid, who looked up at the twins
and smiled. Something about that smile unsettled Prince.

“How can your firstborn look just like you,
yet also mature?” Prince asked.

“I want to show you guys something.”

Billy led them towards the woods, searching
for something close to the ground, the twins a few steps behind
him, looking over his shoulder. Then an enormously loud primal
scream exploded behind them, several times larger than a normal
human voice. Both Prince and Princess dived to the ground while
drawing wands. If they had their wands already in their hands, they
may have blasted William, who was rolling in the air laughing.

Billy collapsed on the grass laughing so hard
he couldn’t breathe. He balled up like an infant, completely
helpless as Prince kicked him, tears flowing like rivers. His son
hovered above them, doing his own version of the four-flaming-wand
dance that Diva helped Billy develop. Except the boy was a much
better dancer, doing graceful somersaults with the agility of a
veteran.

“You bastard!” his fiancé screamed at Billy,
trying hard not to laugh.

“I’m so sorry,” Billy lied, knowing they knew
he wasn’t sorry. “I’ve been planning this ever since Emily did the
same thing to me. Oh, he scared me so bad I nearly peed myself. My
legs shook so much I couldn’t even stand! I had no idea how
terrifying it is for someone to scream so loud at one’s back. Every
warrior hates feeling vulnerable -- I just never felt it so keenly
before.”

After nearly crapping himself, Prince stared
up at the boy with both envy and admiration. “That was
awesome!”

Indeed, Princess now smiled up at him, seeing
him in a completely unexpected light. She held out her arms and the
damn kid dropped into her embrace with a laugh that only kids can
do. He hugged her so fiercely that she found herself kissing him as
if he were her own.

“I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful,” the
boy said, looking deeply into her eyes, his adorable face radiating
as much innocence as many hours of practice can manufacture.
Princess burst into tears and opened her heart, loving the oldest
son of her fiancé despite all the complications that this would
bring.

“This is William,” the father introduced
them. “Not Will or Willy or Billy, but William, after my
father.”

“You gave him Millennial Wands?” Prince
suddenly demanded, examining the kid’s sticks. “You had another set
of Millennial Wands?”

“Show them, William.”

The five year old flew up and shocked them.
Not just with the eight meters of flame from his hand wands, but
from the four meters from his boot wands. The Khan’s unique ability
was looking more common.

“William, you’re incredible,” Princess told
the boy. “I need to bring my daughter Elizabeth here to meet you.
Your dad also gave her millennial wands when she shot flame from
her boot wands.”

“Is it true you’re the most powerful woman in
the world?” William asked, staring at her like a puppy.

Princess laughed, knowing what he was doing,
but unable to defend herself against it.

Billy got up to warn her. “Princess, William
is just practicing flattery on you. His real target is the king. He
wants to be named in the line of succession -- not because he wants
power, but because he thinks it’d be hilarious. He ingratiates
himself so well that poor grandpa runs at the sight of him.”

“Don’t be jealous, papa. Not everyone can be
a world famous hero like you.” The boy touched noses with Princess.
“I hear you have an amazing wingspan.”

Billy warned her again. “You see? Better lock
up your dignity or he’ll take that, too.”

As more adults from the house gathered
around, she motioned them back then, with a deep breath, extended
flame fourteen meters. All that fighting and flying paid off.