Authors: Scott V. Duff
We exited through the main doors. Entering through the double doors, it felt like walking into an apartment complex, reasonably nice, but not comparing to the lobbies of the Family suites at all. This was more general while those were more personal, geared toward the tastes of the people living there. Like many of the living spaces in the Palace, the centerpiece of the lobby was a fountain surrounded by a room of plants.
As I looked around the lobby, I noticed a very mild blurriness in the air near a large palm tree at the far end of the fountain. It wasn’t a physical blur, but a mild congealing of Gilán’s essence. Curiously, it was the odd crossing of Kieran’s
see in truth
spell and Daybreak’s power that allowed me to notice, not either of them separately. I decided to watch this thing for a while before I made any decisions. Like, maybe, what the hell it was. It wasn’t like I could do anything about it until then anyway.
“First, would you care to join us now?” I called across Gilán. “We’re about to go into the more interesting sections of the Garrison.”
“Hi, Guys, nice place,” Jimmy said, shifting in beside me. “Kieran says we probably need to get someone to test line conditions before we connect any electronics to it, but it looks good for now.”
“Cool, one less problem as minor as it is,” I answered. Turning to Byrnes and Velasquez, I asked, “You two and one more of your choosing, the Armor Master, are quartered elsewhere. Would you care to see?”
Startled, both Byrnes and Velasquez were apprehensive about that question.
“Uh, yes, sir,” Byrnes said nervously.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds, Major, but yes, your quarters are next to the Armory,” I said, grinning slyly. We left the lobby of the Officers’ Quarters, turning right again down the hall and past the cross hall, further in toward the front of the Palace than they’d yet been. Twenty feet down into the hall we came to another force field. On the right was an unobtrusive doorway set back five feet into the masonry. Walking in, we found a small lobby with a set of three doors. The door on the left read simply “Armor Master,” the center read “Commander Byrnes” and the right said “Commander Velasquez.”
Pushing to door open to Byrnes’ apartment, we walked into the foyer of a newly furnished four-bedroom apartment. Again, full of life with plants everywhere, this was meant to be a home away from the cold stonework of the Garrison, and it worked well.
“Your new home, Commander,” I said, offering his new title for the first time. “I find it quite appealing and there’s plenty of room if you decide you want a roommate. Consider that carefully, though. Time alone among so many is a valuable commodity.”
“Why are you surprised?” Jimmy asked, smiling and throwing his arms across both their shoulders. “Who’d ya think he’d give it to? Sgt. Cox? Congratulations on the promotions! Now come on! He won’t even let me see inside.”
“You must have been fun at Christmas,” Velasquez muttered.
“Really, First, let them enjoy the moment,” I said mildly.
The links between the men of the geas burst into activity as they began discovering the changes. Lt. Brinks released a majority of the men from his caravan and after seeing the kitchen and mess hall, they were eagerly moving through their new home. The pool was a huge hit. They were captivated by the size. I watched as a few officers shouting about water safety were tossed overhead into the pool first. Their excitement was contagious as the backlog diverted down the hall to the new gymnasium and toward the barracks themselves.
“Maybe we should move along,” Byrnes said, grinning. “There goes Cox, boo-ya!”
“See? You’re catching on,” Jimmy said, slapping his back. He decided it was time to move and turned with his arm still around Velasquez. Byrnes followed in a mild disorientation, realizing he was seeing two things at once and actually dealing with it separately. I could vaguely remember that feeling as I followed them out, still watching the little condensation of magic drift toward us.
Down the hall a few yards, Jimmy stood close to the force field blocking the way. I watched the little anomaly drift into a wall then shoot around and into the flow of the field. Being energy it moved fast, but it oozed out of the field slowly and twice as big, was facing Jimmy. I wasn’t worried about this small, slip of magic hurting Jimmy, but I was curious what effect it was having. It seemed to be increasing the field’s sense of apprehension on Jimmy directly.
“Damn, that’s creepy,” he said, stepping back from the force field. “Still not as bad as the one on Daybreak’s Armory, though. That one makes you want to run screaming from the room.” Then, turning as if just noticing me standing beside him, added, “Sir.”
“Why did you try, ya idjit?” I asked, grinning, falling back into friendly patterns from months ago. I shoved him aside and said, “You have a better chance of getting into Beth Hamilton’s pants than through that and you know it.”
“Ha!” he cried, hopping back on one foot to catch his balance. “Too late! She got knocked up by somebody’s cousin’s Navy friend who shipped out months ago.”
“Then why are you dreaming about her, you perv?” I asked, kidding him. “What? You like them pregnant?” I laughed and hit the field with my hand, first turning off the warning then tuning the field’s lock to accept Jimmy and my new commanders.
“You liar!” Jimmy shouted, shocked at me but knowing I was joking. “I never dreamt of that! Don’t make up crap about me!”
“Maybe,” I said, grinning. “But they’ll never know for sure. Gentlemen, this door will stay locked until both the First and you agree that you are organizationally ready to begin some sort of battle training. Beyond here is the Armory and training facilities. Up to now, everything we’ve opened will stay open until you lock it again. This one will remain locked until either First or I change that, once we are satisfied that everyone understands the safety measures and the dangers involved. The Armory itself will always have staged locks of some kind, accessible only by you and the Armor Master.”
“He’s lying! I’ve never dreamt about bangin’ Beth Hamilton pregnant,” Jimmy told Byrnes and Velasquez, earnestly. They just grinned at him innocently.
The threshold to the Armory was a deep red stonework, in contrast to the lighter base coloring of the Palace. It gave it a more foreboding look than anywhere else in the Garrison. I started the doors swinging open.
“Now the weapons here aren’t quite what you’re used to using,” I said, leading the way through the doors and turning right. “The style of warfare that you’re familiar with doesn’t quite work in fights against us, as you’ve discovered. We get much more personal and up-close. That’s not to say we won’t need firearms, but you already have proficiency in those.”
The first room we entered was dedicated to armor. It was a huge, warehouse-style area filled with racks of suits from floor to thirty-foot ceiling with dozens upon dozens of different styles and colors. Shields were next, all bearing the mark of Gilán. From round to rectangular, varying is sizes from shoulder-width, single man to fifteen-man bulwarks, massive and heavy. Next came the shield-breakers. Heavy clubs at the beginning, graduating to maces, multiple-edged hammers, and spiked rams of all shapes and sizes.
While my three subordinates were fascinated by everything—kids in a toy store—I was hungry and we still had three more rooms in the Armory and several training rooms to go. I opened the next room as we approached, but I needed to teach them a few minor tricks before we went too far back.
Turning in the open doorway, I cleared my throat to bring their attention to me fully from the armors that so fascinated them. “This is the first warded door. Before we go into the bladed weapons, you should know that some things react nearly as much to your thinking as to your movements. With that in mind, you need to be more controlled with what you express through the geas, so I need to show you how to do a few things first. You can train your officers and from there, the rest of the men.
“Let’s start with privacy barriers,” I told them then proceeded to show them several different ways to partition themselves and others off from the party line of the geas. The first time they tried, they managed it, but broke it immediately, fearing the loss of the geas. Jimmy was nearly in fits laughing, but managed to be consoling instead, sort of. Once they both managed tight enough screens around themselves to hold against all but the main vault, we continued. All together, it only took about fifteen minutes. They were smart men and able students.
“These are the edged weapons,” I said, returning to the tour. “Everything from small knives to swords to battle axes to things I don’t know what they’re called yet.” There were literally hundreds of thousands of blades, packed more tightly together than the armors. Everything in sight was a plain weapon, bearing only the mark of Gilán. These were the “working” weapons of the everyday soldiers. Locked in cases behind them were more decorated and potent samples. These were the reason for teaching them to shield their thoughts.
I turned left at a cross hall that led to the main vault and around to the other two rooms. When I stopped at the next cross hall and paused, Byrnes looked back down the hall.
“That’s quite a distance we just walked,” he said, mildly surprised as he consulted the increasingly bright map I was highlighting for them.
“Yeah,” Jimmy said, grinning at them. “You’ve gotten quite speedy. Just wait till the clumsiness kicks in, though. It’ll drive you bonkers until you get used to how fast you get.”
“You didn’t seem clumsy to me,” I said, looking confused.
“But I practiced constantly,” he said chuckling. “Every chance I got whenever you weren’t looking, trust me. From flipping coins to tossing a stick back and forth, it wasn’t always easy. My apartment was a mess the first few days from all the things I knocked over.”
“You should have said something,” I said, upset. “Maybe I could have helped.”
“You were busy,” he said shrugging.
“Jimmy!” I said, bordering on angry.
“Seth, you were busy and it was a small thing,” he said calmly and quietly. “I coped with it.” The simple sincerity on his face tore any anger I had to shreds.
“All right, you’re a big boy,” I said, sighing and relaxing, then pointed at the massive vault at the center of the Armory complex. “But
that
stays locked under my authority alone until I can teach you a lot more.”
“Please do,” Jimmy said, chuckling as he stared at its black walls etched in a grid of blue. “Even from here, the locks are scary as hell.”
“You ain’t just whistlin’ ‘Dixie’,” Byrnes muttered, staring at his feet instead. Velasquez was trying hard to read notes he hadn’t taken from his pad.
“Good,” I said and turned to go to the next juncture. Stopping at the door on the right, I decided not to go in there, but I swung the other open. “That room is mostly supplies for building various siege engines, so let’s not bother going in. This is ballistic weapons and loads. The more exotic and explosive of which are in the vault. Back here are the larger weapons, catapults and the like. Then longbows, shortbows, crossbows, you name it. If it’s not a gun and it makes something fly and kills, it’s probably in here somewhere.”
Swinging the front door to this section open, we exited into the main cross-hall and turned left again. “These are the offices that hide the vault’s door. Mostly, I can’t see them being used that much since I really don’t see us actually fighting a war anywhere. My current plans for you are as a security company, mostly watching, looking threatening, and saying, ‘Go away,’ to people we don’t want around. Not nearly as formidable as what you’re used to dealing with.”
My commanders nearly giggled at each other. “We’ll take that over burning down villages, Lord,” Velasquez said, grinning, eyes bright and strikingly blue against his dark skin.
“The training rooms shouldn’t take long,” Jimmy murmured, looking through the walls. I felt him send a blanket command through the geas, followed by a series of more complex orders to others. Many of them sent simultaneously.
Yeah, he coped. Was coping. Learning. And doing it well. Jimmy was proving himself to himself. He was becoming the First of Gilán in far more than just name. I was proud of him and proud to call him my friend.
“That’s why I picked this side first,” I said. “That side will make more sense when you know what you’ll be training with first.” The trip out and across the wide hall was quick and Jimmy had already opened the door to the training section. I led them through the front section first, moving toward the first large training room.
“More offices for trainers, some conference rooms for staff meetings, everything still under the auspices of the Armor Master and his lieutenants. Small medical stations throughout. You’ll be working with the brownies quite a bit for the first few weeks, getting everything properly set up. They’ll also help with some of the training in a limited capacity, coaching and teaching only. Under no circumstances are they to be used in any kind of battle drill or fight maneuver. It can be psychologically damaging to them and they don’t know that much about fighting.”
“Yes, sir,” Byrnes and Velasquez said together.
The floors outside the office areas changed from stone to a red clay-colored rubber-like material that seemed to grip at our shoes. Pulling a small amount of water out of the pool, I dropped it in our path and walked through it without slipping at all. Byrnes drudged through the puddle totally unaware of it. It was marvelous slip-proofing.