Beyond?

by Andur

  Not knowing what else to do I use her tail and wave it at her. “Love, you are back! I am glad that you recovered that fast. Hurgh-”

  Stella's left hand shoots out and closes around my throat. A last death rattle escapes my lips before my windpipe is reduced to an unhealthy size. I wriggle as I am pulled from the chair, but to no avail. Stella's forceful pulling causes me to lose my balance and I frantically try to regain my foothold, but Stella ignores my struggle and pulls me along with her towards the door.

  On the brink of my consciousness I notice that I am dragged over the floor until we reach the stepper disc in front of the room. The world starts darkening and swaying while I try to stay awake.

  Just when I am about to pass out Stella lets go and I drop to the ground. Lying on my back I draw a deep breath. Alive! So lucky, she didn't kill me!

  Surveying my surroundings I find out that I am on the floor in our mansion's bedroom. I am lying on my back while Stella is standing with tears in her eyes above me, so I raise my hands into a protective position. “Stel, I am sorry. But you didn't give me any other choice.”

  Then she sits down on top of me and starts to strip, opening the top of her robe! Instead of hitting me she grabs my left hand and places it on her naked, bouncy chest. The tip of her tail wanders into my right hand and with her free arm she grabs my collar to pull me closer.

  “~Do that again!~”

  Eastern Plains

  Giana

  We are sitting in our transport and I am staring out of the window. “What do you think about them, Leon?”

  It takes him a while to answer. “They are heretics!”

  That much was obvious from the start! “What else. For example this Shaman...”

  Again it takes a while until he finds the right words. “He is smart. They seem to have some tricks up their sleeves and they have guns. We have to be careful of Dwem.”

  I nod, but keep my attention on the scenery. “So you admit that they are powerful. What else? What do you think of this new Nict?”

  This time it doesn't take him long to answer. “They are still running around with swords and spears. Their artefacts and building capabilities could become annoying, but that's all. And they are perverts!”

  I nod slowly and agree to the only point in which we share the same opinion.

  “They are perverts.”

  69. ~Gatecrasher.~

  “We are the land and the land is us. Would you ever let anyone walk over you as he pleases?”

  -Old Nomad.

  Eastern Plains

  Azir

  It's the best thing in the universe to wake up while being intertwined with the person you love. Though the feeling is a little dulled when the person in question is nibbling on your ear while her tongue is slithering into it.

  Fortunately I always have a bar of chocolate at my bedside table, so I sacrificed it to my goddess in exchange for my life... she even ate the paper wrapping.

  Then a straining interrogation by Helen and Lucas followed as the first point on my schedule. They wanted to know everything about the flash of light. I tried to make up something believable about magical experiments which can end up in huge explosions. It's unlikely that they actually believed me, but at least they stopped bugging me with questions when it became obvious that I won't yield in this matter.

  Magic has enough destructive possibilities on its own without adding the long term effects of nuclear materials. I just chose to use the nuke because I had it on hand and the guy on the other side of the portal sparked my ire with his stupid grin.

  I avert my thoughts from the past and try to concentrate on the scenery in front of me. “This will complicate our conversation with Quinn.” Right now I am standing on top of the watchtower which is closest to Quinn's camp. The six towers around our fortress give the best view on our surroundings, so we chose this location to get a good view on the scenery.

  Helen, Lucas, Sola and Xander are close by with Stella firmly holding onto my hand. I have the feeling that she is planning to take a shrewd form of revenge today. At least she didn't let go of me since we got up this morning and she didn't mention the little incident from yesterday. All of us are wearing our official robes.

  Chuck is also here to form his own opinion of the situation. Today he chose a simple white mask without ornaments. I wonder if there is any meaning to the frequent exchanges of this item. He brought only two advisers this time.

  “You look tired.” Xander states at my side while grinning like an idiot.

  “Is it that obvious?” I try to smile, but it isn't working all too well. Stella forced me to stay awake throughout the entire night.

  He nods and points at his eyes. “You have shadows under your eyes. Normally you don't have them.”

  “I see.” Somehow I don't get his point but since he is a medic he has to know.

  Another ball of white light starts rising from the hostile army beyond our walls. They started gathering in the early morning... nomads. It began with small groups circling around our fortress and the expedition force from Quinn. Then more and more arrived by the hour until they had turned into a sizeable army.

  “If I have to guess, then there are about eighty thousand of them?” Lucas asks while he watches the pulsing orb of white light above the nomads.

  I nod and access the information from my drones, which is updated in real time. “Eighty two is more likely and there are about thirty thousand more inbound on our position. It's a little hard to tell since they are travelling in so many small groups. The drones didn't recognize them as a threat until they started gathering.” I gesture at the growing army. “I thought the Nomads are without leadership? This doesn't look like they are doing this randomly.”

  They even formed an orderly formation. All of the are riding on nightmares. They seem to be similar to the beasts in my father's stables, though they are a little bigger and look meaner. An average nightmare can go at thirty miles per hour, so their army is quite mobile. Quinn's forces are still a little faster.

  Sola attempts to explain the situation. “That's true, but they have some kind of rules to defend their homeland. Normally one of their caravans doesn't contain more than a few hundred people and I am speaking of the really big ones now. Though when you try to cross their turf, they merge with other caravans until they have enough to attack you. I guess since we never marched a real army into their territory we didn't experience a gathering on this scale up until now.”

  I hum while I watch the video feed from my drone. They seem like a ragtag band of mercenaries to me. But some of them have to be highly skilled magicians. “Where are their children? I can find only people of fighting age in that army of theirs. Don't they travel with their families?”

  Helen shrugs her shoulders. “Their caravans never include young or old people. I guess they live in villages deep in the eastern plains. A life of travelling around in such an environment is very hard. I can imagine that they leave the weaker members of their society in a safe place.”

  The white orb above the nomad camp pulses one final time and arches slowly towards the position of Quinn's forces. Quinn gathered their forces around the huge command vehicle of theirs and it transformed.

  It opened its roof and extended a set of long antennae from inside it. Then something like a big Leyden jar appeared on top of it and started spinning two huge electromagnetic coils around itself. The created sparks of lightning between the antennae and the coils look impressive. I must admit that I underestimated them a little, but still. “Those guys from Quinn are hypocrites. They abhor magic, yet this machine of theirs is sucking mana from its surroundings to create the needed electromagnetic effect to disrupt spells. I can't imagine that someone without magical abilities could control such a device. Surely some of their priests are in charge of that thing.”

  The white orb closes in on Quinn's expeditionary force, but suddenly it bloats up and disperses while it is still in the air.

  The Great Shaman sha
kes his totem at the scene. “So the radius for their anti magic defence is about three kilometres. I would like to know how it feels to be inside this field and if our rituals would still work despite the interference.”

  Helen looks interested at the Great Shaman. “I thought that rituals are very vulnerable to mistakes? Wouldn't such a device disrupt a ritual much easier than a spell.”

  Chuck shakes his head. “Not necessarily. As you said, rituals are very delicate in terms of execution, but those are mistakes of the person who is performing the ritual. The guidance and magic formation of a ritual are much stronger than those of a spell. It's possible that a shaman is still able to perform a few of the sturdier rituals within that field.”

  One of the bigger vehicles from Quinn fires a huge angle gun at the nomad army. A second later the shell explodes above the nomad army and an energy bubble lights up around the nomad troops. The explosion sends waves of energy wandering around the bubble until they fade away after a few seconds.

  I scratch my chin and comment the situation with sarcasm. “Yep, those nomads are definitely just some primitive bandits who have no thoughts about great scale warfare.” As I voice my opinion another white orb starts forming above the nomad army.

  It pulses a few times before it is sent on its way. This time towards us.

  Lucas clicks with his tongue. “I guess they are done with testing Quinn's defence. Now it's our turn.” The orb arches down at our tower, but just a moment before it impacts a bright energy shield appears around our fortress and the orb is deflected away like a rubber ball. It bounces off of our shield and explodes somewhere in mid air. Probably it is a timed spell.

  I nod satisfied. “It was a good idea to add the polarisation routine to the standard shield spell. It saves much energy against projectile and energy attacks which aren't triggering by themselves.”

  Helen frowns and watches the enemy troops while a third orb of energy starts forming above them. “Since they attacked us I guess it's justified if we return the favour?”

  Lucas dismisses his wife's suggestion. “Don't be too hasty dear. We shouldn't do Quinn's work.”

  The Great Shaman assists his opinion. “Your husband is right. While Quinn isn't exactly an enemy of ours at the moment, their ideology is very provocative and we shouldn't help them without being asked for help. For all we know, we might help a future enemy. Their beliefs and social structure are totally incompatible with ours. I don't want it on my conscience to help someone like them.”

  “But aren't we any better? They suppress magicians, we suppress non-magicians? Isn't your society dooming everyone who isn't smart enough to be a bottom feeder?” I ask Chuck and smirk as the next long range attack bounces off of our barrier.

  Chuck shakes his totem at Quinn's forces. “There is an important difference. In Dwem everyone gets a chance. From what I heard, Quinn forces everyone who has magic into religious service. If you don't comply you disappear. They may have tried to look nice and tolerant towards us, but from the prince's demeanour I bet that they would kill all of us if we showed up on their soil.”

  “I see. If you are intending to wait and see how this turns out then I'll use the time to inspect our fortress.” I turn and leave the group behind, heading towards the staircase. Stella is following me while holding onto my hand. She didn't talk much today, probably she is still angry.

  I lead her down the staircase while I inspect the metal linings and runes along the wall. Since there was such a huge workforce available I couldn't hold back and suggested several improvements to the construction of this fortress. A ring of magical circuitry along the walls is a part of those improvements. I really hope that the workforce followed all my instructions to the letter. Otherwise some problems could arise.

  We are now at the height of the wall which connects this tower with the next one. I leave the staircase and walk outside onto the outer wall to inspect it. The patterns and runic circuits on the wall look good.

  “Azir? I've been thinking.” Suddenly Stella decides to break the silence.

  I stop my inspection to face her. “Yes?”

  “My parents are thinking that pressuring you into revealing what you did to that army is no good. Though they are quite certain that you had your hands in it since the date of the incident overlaps with the last day of your... quest for revenge.” She presses my hand. “And since that day the stuff which we gathered for your nuclear power plant has been missing.” Her lips turn white. “Tell me what's going on, since it seems that I had a hand in it?”

  I take a look down the wall's walkway, but the next guard is standing far away. I hoped that she wouldn't figure it out, but I guess that this was wishful thinking on my part. “I used the material to wipe out that army. Nobody should know how the Gejene's power can be used.”

  Stella is just standing there and watches another orb of energy being deflected. This time it was aimed two towers further away. Then she nods. “I see. Please, make sure that you never tell anyone about that possibility.”

  I tilt my head and study her expression. “It won't be a secret forever. The idea is very basic and someone is bound to find out sooner or later.”

  Stella snorts. “I'll persuade my mother to strengthen the rules against creating heavy elements with our ability. She has to know that they don't exist only to protect our health. It's currently seen as nothing but a rule, it's no law.”

  That would be a bad idea. “She'll realize what's going on if you do that. And it'll make people start thinking if you turn it into a law.”

  She nods. “You should put more trust in her. I'll emphasize the point that health is still a major issue. Didn't you say yourself that people will find out sooner or later? She'll see to it that these rules are obeyed to the letter.”

  “If you think that you can enforce such a rule without causing raised eyebrows, it should be okay.” At least I hope that.

  70. ~Statement.~

  “One shall fight an unknown foe to determine if he is a worthy opponent to be respected, or cattle to be hunted.”

  -Old Nomad.

  Eastern Plains

  Azir

  After our short conversation about the nuclear material we continued the inspection of the fortress until a new development forced me and Stella to hurry back to the others. Upon reaching them I take a fast look over the parapet of the tower.

  The situation looks strange to me since the nomads are advancing on Quinn's forces, but the vehicles don't attempt to use their mobility. Instead they created a tight ring around their command centre. “Why aren't they moving?”

  Chuck gives me his conclusion. “It seems like their command centre isn't mobile enough while it is deployed. If they move without it, they give up their protection from magic. So their only chance is to stand their ground and rely on the nomads losing their magic as they enter the command centre's area of interference.

  "I am not entirely sure if it's really to Quinn's disadvantage. The nomads don't have guns. When they lose their magic they will be just a bunch sword swinging fellows, running into the concentrated fire of several hundred weapons. Numbers don't mean much if your comrades start falling left and right from you. It's very likely that the nomads' forces break before they reach their foe.”

  I start chewing on my lower lip. Chuck's interpretation could be right or wrong. It all depends on Quinn's rate of fire. But to me it didn't look like their weapons are automatic. Not even Dwem's weapons are fully automatic and they are surely the better models.

  Helen drums with her fingers onto the parapet in front of her. “It's bugging me that it seems like they decided that they can ignore us for now. It's like they have no respect for Nict!”

  Lucas pats her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. “After all we simply took their attacks without returning fire. From their point of view it looks like we only intend to watch. It would be stupid of them to force us into action. At least until they are done with Quinn.”

  We watch as the
nomads' onslaught enters the maximum range of Quinn's interrupt field. Quinn kept firing the entire time with a single cannon to test the nomads' shield. As the first shell gets through, Quinn's formation suddenly disappears behind a cloud of smoke. All units fired at once and the effect on the advancing nomads is devastating. Riders fall left and right while I watch the camera feed from one of our drones.

  But the nomads don't break and spread out their formation. On the backs of their nightmares they only need about five minutes to bridge the distance between them and their target. But five minutes are still an eternity in battle. They pay a hefty price in lives until they reach Quinn's line of defence while trampling over the bodies of their fallen comrades.

  But when they do, Quinn starts paying for their tactic. The nomads use incendiary devices while they hurl themselves at the line of defenders and the first vehicles go up in flames. Some of Quinn's soldiers deploy flame throwers and cause horrible damage to their foes. The battle turns into a chaotic mess until the nomads finally break the defenders' formation. There is space between Quinn's vehicles and the nomads use the invitation to ride right through them.

  Riders start swarming into the circle of vehicles and towards the command centre. When the command centre gets its share of incendiary devices it decides to start moving. The circle of vehicles around it breaks up and follows the command centre at maximum speed, leaving the nomads and a few burning comrades behind.

  I notice that the spinning coils of the command centre are turning slower when it is moving.

  Quinn's forces continue shooting, but only a minute later the shells start impacting on a newly erected barrier. The distant roars of the guns finally grow weaker and stop after the last gunner realized that the barrier was raised once more.

  I nod in realization. “So that's the reason. Their area of interference is reduced while they are on the move. I guess that they can't guarantee protection from stronger attacks like that.”

  The nomads seem to have realized the same thing and a new orb of light forms above the main body of their troops.