The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (42 page)

“Thank you, we love you too!” the four conquerors called to their unseen parents.

“There’s enough here for five items for each of you.”
Karzog announced to the entire gathering. 
“Form an orderly line, and no taking extras.”

“Ahh, that’s so adorable!” a female Sylvan laughed.  “The babies are out conquering, and their parents sent them treats!”

“Don’t be too smart about it, or I’ll call you into the ring for a round or two.” Helemia warned.

“Of course, your mightiness!” the girl laughed, and gave them a mocking salute before moving to get into the line for the snack table before it got too long.

“These Sylvan do like to live dangerously, don’t they?” Helemia commented, and fetched her selections of snacks from the table by Movement.

By one hour to midnight, there was no one fighting in the ring anymore, and most of the gathering were having sex.  Few of the Sylvan chose to seek a semblance of privacy among the trees or the unfinished constructions; most of them just covered a spot of sand with their clothes and went at it.  The four young Governors observed this with some interest, and more than a bit of carefully-veiled disgust.

“I know for certain that I’ll think that’s a lot of fun in a few years.”
  Reggie privately commented to his companions. 
“But right now, that’s hard to believe.  I never expected that sex could be so… slimy.”

“Or so smelly, for that matter.”
Valentia added.

“Is my humanoid Translation spell failing me, or are their facial expressions completely ridiculous looking?”
Karzog wondered.

“The spell isn’t failing you.”
Helemia reported. 
“Though I find the slappy, squishy sounds to be the most ridiculous part about it.  I’m with Six.  I can’t believe I’m ever going to think that’s fun.”

“Most of them don’t look like they’re having fun, or sound like it either.”
Karzog pointed out. 
“It seems more like they’re intent on hurting each other.  And succeeding.”

“Grown-ups are weird.”
Valentia concluded.
  “Even grown-ups as immature as these ones.”

Midnight came and went, then half-past.  Most of the young Sylvan were still engaged in the activity, many after switching partners, sometimes more than once.

“Almost all of you are past curfew, and you should all be cleaned up and ready for sleep now.”
Karzog announced. 
“Since this is our first night together and therefore a somewhat special occasion, we’ll let it go this once.  But all of you who’re still having sex had better take note; You’d better start doing it earlier tomorrow night and be finished at midnight, because we’ll be drenching any stragglers with cold water.”

But it seemed like the Sylvan were unwilling to stop once they’d gotten started.  Their Governors got sick of listening to them about four hours after midnight, and did indeed drench every continuing fornicator with cold water.  They used fresh water from the streams rather than sea water, figuring that it would at least clean the Sylvan somewhat, and they moved the water by Translocation so there would be no warning.  They laughed to themselves with quiet satisfaction at the chorus of surprised and distressed squeals, cries, and yells that erupted from all over the beach.

“If we have to do that again in one minute, we’ll make the water ice-cold next time!”
Helemia warned. 
“Now we’ll dry you off and you WILL go to sleep!”

As things turned out, they learned that the young Sylvan loved to push the limits of authority, and were quite stubborn besides.  The mass midnight drenching became a regular nightly event for weeks.  Some fornicators would try to surreptitiously continue after the drenching, so the water was made colder for a few nights in a row, until it was found to be completely effective at about eight degrees above freezing.

To the surprise of the four governors, all the young Sylvan awoke within a few minutes of each other at dawn, which was about eight hours after midnight, and they seemed alert and chipper enough.  They were to learn that the Sylvan were all used to doing with very little sleep, since sleeping had always left them very vulnerable to attack.  Thereafter, since the Sylvan were forced to sleep shortly after midnight, the next day would begin about four hours later when they all woke up.

On the second day they got the Sylvan fed, then set them to continuing the work on their settlement’s construction under Karzog’s supervision, and Valentia went home to sleep.

The twins went out to catch more young Sylvan.  In over an hour they only caught two, a thirteen-year-old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl.  They wouldn’t have found those two without the assistance of Stripe and Scout’s finely sensitive noses, as the two Sylvan were well-hidden and were maintaining silence and immobility.  Only their scents had given them away.

Suddenly the twins were struck by an attack of combined Lightning and Concussion that was so huge that only their automated defenses saved their lives.  Their automatic counter-attacks could find nothing to aim at, and they Translocated away with the two animals in a fraction of a second, rather than risk that their Shields would be overloaded.

“Crap that was close!”
Helemia cursed as they went to work.

“Too close.”
Reggie grimly agreed.
“And way too big an attack for the resistance we expected.  Either most of the remaining wild Sylvan are working together on this, or some of their adults are helping them, or both.”

When the attack had occurred, Stripe and Scout had both been a fair distance away from the twins, who had been the target of the strike.  But the two animals had been protected by less Shielding, and there had been so much energy released that they’d been caught in it and injured by it.  The twins had to clamp down on their anger with all their discipline and do some very quick and careful Healing to save their beloved pets’ lives and return them to health.

A moment later they gained control of most of Karzog and Valentia’s power with draw spells, then seized control of most of their captive Sylvan’s power with pull spells.  They Sent the animals home as they Translocated to a position a kilometer above and a half kilometer south of where they’d been attacked, and cast Simulacrums of themselves and Stripe on the ground beneath them.  They equipped the Simulacrums with Shielding, and set them to creeping through the woods.  They floated there with no protections for themselves except the Unseen spell, minimizing their power output to avoid detection, and psionicly ‘listened’ with every iota of their Linked concentration.

Sure enough, a minute later their Simulacrums were blasted by a similar attack.

“I think we found most of them that time.”
Helemia commented as they let the Simulacrums end.
  “But we should do it again to make sure.  None of them are moving anyway.”

“Right.”
Reggie acknowledged as he Translocated them a half kilometer west and re-cast the Simulacrums.  He then cast a wide spell to help find their opponents by their body heat, and another to detect the vibration of their motion through the ground, then rejoined his sister in ‘listening’.

Again their Simulacrums were attacked by massed Lightning and Concussion spells.

“Hah!  Found ‘em all that time!”
Helemia psionicly cried in triumph.

“And there’s a
lot
of ‘em!”
Reggie noted. 
“More than we planned on dealing with all at once.  We’ll have to borrow some power for this.”

He Linked with their parents in case their adults didn’t happen to be following their exploits at the moment. 
“May we use some of your power?  We’ve got a bit of a situation here.  We might even need some of Povon and Kragorram’s”

“Sure Son.”
came Mark’s chuckling reply, then they felt the draw spell take effect through the Link.

They cast Sleep on all their targets at once with about a fifth of the power they controlled, then used most of the rest to cast one of the biggest and most complex mass Translocations ever done on Kellaran.  Sylvan in hiding places, dens, and homes all over northern Hiliani were Translocated to the beach at the new colony and deposited on the sand in neat rows just to the south-west of the existing constructions.

“Wow, over twelve thousand of them at once!” Karzog marveled as he appeared in the air beside them and surveyed their new catch.  “And almost a quarter of them are adults!”

“Yes, and almost all of them attacked us.” Helemia growled as she flew down and landed on the ground amongst the new captives.  “They almost killed Stripe and Scout.  And this one was directing them!”

She gave the unconscious adult male Sylvan a vicious kick in the head, then felt remorse for it and Healed him.

“I’ve got to admit, when you two set out to find some people, you do a job of it!”
Mark laughed from Yazadril’s house, where he and his wives happened to be at the time. 
“How did you find the ones that weren’t attacking you?”

“They were following the attack psionicly, just so they could watch.” Reggie reported as he and Karzog joined Helemia on the sand and began inspecting their captives, temporarily confiscating a few magic items and the more dangerous enhanced weapons.  “That was all it took for us to find them.  Our psionics really work better when we’re mad at someone.  Most of the adults and their dependant children weren’t casting or watching though, so they’re still out there.”

“Most people’s best abilities improve when focused by controlled anger.”
Alilia commented. 
“And by the way, well done!  We’re very proud of you, and we do love you so very much!”

“Thanks, we love you all too, and thanks for the power.”
Reggie sent.

“Karz, we’re beat.” Helemia said as her anger faded and her fatigue and lack of sleep registered.  “I know I’m not scheduled for sleep until Val comes back, and Six after me, but we’re really leftovers.  We’ll leave these asleep until we get back.  They should be fine.  Will you be okay on your own until we get back with Val later?”

“Sure, go ahead.” Karzog nodded and gave them a dismissive wave.  “With this capture, we’re way ahead of schedule anyway, and the ones we got yesterday sure aren’t going to give me any trouble.  You drained them pretty good just now.  The work’s ahead of schedule too, by the way.”

“Good to hear.” Helemia told him as she gave his ankle a quick hug.

“We’ll see you in about six hours then.” Reggie said.

“Sure, take your time.” Karzog replied, and vanished as he went back to supervising the construction.

Reggie and Helemia Translocated their armor, weapons, and outer clothing to the floor of their bedroom and themselves into bed with Valentia, all in one step.  They were asleep in less than a minute.

The three of them woke six hours later, and the twins let Valentia know what had happened that morning while they washed up and dressed.  They found their parents in the kitchen, and a hot meal was on the table already.

“Good afternoon, loves.  Hungry?” Talia asked with a warm smile.

“Starved.” Helemia smiled as they sat down.  “And good afternoon to you too Mother, though it feels like morning.”

“I imagine it does.” Alilia smiled.

“Congratulations again on your fine work.” Mark told them.  “You must be ahead of schedule on bringing the Sylvan under your command, and your organization and socialization efforts were first-rate.”

“Thank you Father.” Reggie mumbled around a bite of chicken.

“What will you do with the adults you’ve captured?” Alilia asked.

“Work ‘em into the program with the younger ones, I guess.” Helemia mused.

“We sure can’t just let ‘em go after they tried to kill you this morning.” Valentia declared.  “I’m sorry I missed that, by the way.”

“We managed.” Reggie smiled.  “The Sylvan’s reliance on Stealth has it’s disadvantages.  They almost never fly, since it’s easier to notice someone flying, so they don’t tend to check the sky much either.  And of course, their general distrust of each other and everyone else has crippled them psionicly, though I think it’s only cultural.  I think if you raised Sylvan babies in elven communities, their psionics would be just as good as elves, on the average.”

“The adults we caught were all younger ones anyway.” Helemia stated.  “None of ‘em are older than a hundred.  I’m kind of curious as to why they attacked us like that, though I can think of a few good reasons.  There’s no use speculating though, since we’ll know in an hour anyway.”

Conversation faltered as they concentrated on their meals for a while, then Alilia announced; “By the way, we’ve made some progress on the human longevity problem.  We’ll probably want your help with it in about three months.  We’d already found ways to reverse most of the signs and problems of aging in humans using modifications of conventional Healing techniques, but a lot of the true ageing in the internal organs and nervous systems persisted.  Not to mention that they resumed aging again after the treatments.

“The breakthrough came when Hilsith’s regular testing revealed that Nek and Mandri aren’t aging.  Mandri’s a fine young wizard; one of the very best of her age among the humans, but Nek Sibook is a real phenomenon; at twenty-four years she’s quite likely one of the ten best human wizards, and she’s just as good at everything else she does, which is almost every field of endeavor.  Particularly military pursuits.  She learns everything quickly and retains it almost perfectly, both knowledge and skills, even without magical assistance.  Of course she
does
use magical assistance, which speeds her advancement even more.

“At any rate, Nek and Mandri are the only two human wizards in Homestead, since Mark isn’t technically a wizard, and the two have been working together closely since they came here.  Mandri probably wouldn’t be advanced enough to cease aging without Nek’s help.  Hilsith routinely tests everyone in Homestead, so she found that the two weren’t aging, which reminded us that most human Master Wizards either don’t age, or do so at a reduced rate.  We’re getting close to isolating how they do it, and it turns out that it’s pretty much the same way other long-lived races avoid aging.  To be honest, it’s more technical than I can explain, but using magic has a lot of beneficial health effects, including improving nerves and protecting against infections.”