Shadow Sun Unification: Shadow Sun Book Five

by Dave Willmarth

  The others gasped as the kid wet himself, and Allistor had to quickly pull the knife away to avoid actually cutting him. He let go of the weak-kneed kid and walked back to Ben and Diana. He shouted, putting some rage into his voice. “I could have wiped you all out without ever wasting my time coming here in person, and no one except these folks would have known!” He glared at the teenagers, most of whom were watching Aaron cry in a muddy puddle of his own urine.

  Ben shook his head. “Alright, you’ve made your point. I don’t think you needed to be so rough on the kid.”

  “I’ve learned the hard way to weed out the assholes, or they come back to bite me.” Allistor pointed at the dead man by the wall. “He clearly still thinks I’m lying, though I have absolutely no reason to do so. It would have been faster and easier for me to just take you all out. And believe me, I had a busy day planned. I didn’t need this distraction. But you’re all human, and human lives are important to me. I’ll give him one chance to take the oath. If he refuses, I’ll give him food and a weapon and send him away, mark him as hostile to Invictus.”

  “I’ll take your oath.” Diana stepped forward. “I’ve had enough of this place.” She held out her arms, and two of the small children ran to her. “My kids and I will take the oath and go back to civilization.”

  Ben stepped forward as well, then most of the others, including all of the small children. Some of the teenagers joined them, but half a dozen stayed near Aaron, who was still sitting in his own filth.

  Allistor was about to speak again when one of the holdouts grabbed Aaron under his arms and lifted him up. Keeping his distance, he took hold of one arm, and a second kid took hold of the other. They practically carried him forward, and had nearly reached the others when he braced himself and tore free of them.

  “Screw you, dude! He was right about you!” He pulled a knife from a sheath at his back and hurled it at Allistor. The knife sailed past Allistor without him even having to move, and his people all raised their guns, aiming at the kid.

  Allistor calmly addressed him. “I’m gonna chalk that up to you being a teenager, and angry because I just made you piss yourself in front of your friends. So take a deep breath, calm down, and think. You want to end up alone out there?” He pointed toward the wall. “With the wolves and the bears and whatever monsters are still out in those woods?”

  His friends had backed away from him as soon as the guns went up, and he now looked left and right to see that he’d been abandoned. The kid who’d helped him stand mumbled, “Don’t be a dick, man.”

  Allistor continued. “I’ll give you a few minutes to think while I set up an Outpost here.” He opened his interface and selected the appropriate tabs, eliminating the wood walls and expanding the footprint, including the usual utilities, security, and sensors. There were gasps from the crowd as everything went translucent and the ground beneath them seemed to disappear. When he was finished and had pushed the button, there were more surprised sounds as the Outpost took shape around them. Instead of a simple wooden enclosure with some tents and lean-tos, there were now high stone walls with stone buildings inside.

  Allistor looked at Aaron. “You’ve had a few minutes to calm down now. This is just a small example of the comforts you can enjoy if you join Invictus as a citizen. Can you get over yourself and swear the oath? Or do you want to take a hike?” Allistor saw a sneer appear on the kid’s face, as did most of the others. They backed away.

  “Before you say you’ll take the oath, thinking you can just freeload off me, you need to know that you will contribute or be thrown out. And if you take the oath and break it… well the few people who have done so have died horribly. The System takes oaths seriously, and punishes oathbreakers.”

  The sneer disappeared from the obnoxious kid’s face. Allistor waited patiently for a full minute, staring at the kid. The others watched, still at a distance. When the kid still didn’t answer, Allistor shrugged.

  “Fine. The offer is rescinded. The rest of you are welcome to join us. Aaron is, as of now, an enemy of Invictus.” He turned to one of his people. “Get me a backpack, fill it with food, his knife, and a .45, without any bullets. When we leave here, give him a box of rounds.”

  He turned back to Aaron, whose face had gone white. “This outpost is off limits to you, as is this entire park, and every park or property I own. If one of my people encounters you after today, they will shoot on site. Everyone here is a witness, I’ve given you several chances, even after you tried to kill me. You’re just too stupid to live.” Allistor looked around, but none of the crowd spoke up for the kid.

  Needing a little space, he turned his back on the now crying teen and walked over to the security pedestal by the new metal gates. A quick touch of the pad, and the gates opened. Bjurstrom drove the Juggernaut inside the much more spacious new compound, and got out.

  “Please administer the oath to everyone except the little asshole over there crying. He’s KoS after today.”

  “Oh, shit.” Bjurstrom looked from Allistor to the kid and back. “What’d I miss?”

  “Tell you later. Let’s get this done. Nigel, please ask Kira to send a ship out here to pick these people up. They’re to be transported to the Warren to start with, then they have permission to travel the teleport system like any other citizen, assuming they’ve taken the oath.”

  Bjurstrom had already gathered the crowd together, and Allistor grinned despite his foul mood when his friend made a show of having them all take a knee and raise their right hand while they repeated the oath. The lights swirled around them, and Nigel dutifully reported that all but Aaron had sworn. The kid was over to one side, one of Allistor’s men handing him a pack full of food. Allistor watched as he was forcefully led to the gates and escorted out. When he’d disappeared into the woods, one of them set a box of .45 shells on the ground near the gate, then stayed with it to make sure the kid didn’t claim them too soon and try to shoot someone.

  Allistor and Bjurstrom left the other three to organize and supervise the new recruits, letting them know that a ship would arrive shortly. He knew he hadn’t handled things well, and that these people had mainly been bullied into joining him. He’d let the Lakota outcast, sniper, and Aaron get to him, along with his resentment at having to waste half a day on this type of issue when he had a whole kingdom to run. That in itself bothered him a little. He should always have time to save more than three dozen people.

  But now he was running a kingdom of tens of thousands, and an entire planet. A planet that was about to become a heavily populated trade hub. And here on Earth he had hundreds, if not thousands of human settlements to reach out to.

  Bjurstrom tried to coax him into talking on the way back to the Warren. He could have waited with the others and just driven the vehicle onto the ship, been back to civilization faster. But he wanted some time to think, and a quiet car ride through the forest was as good a place as any.

  Eventually, he asked. “Why haven’t you taken a Stronghold of your own and started building a community? You’re more than qualified.”

  “Nah, boss. Not what I’m made for. I do have a Stronghold, and claimed my ten acres. But I’m letting a family live there and farm it. It’s not like I need moolah, after getting my share of the gold depository loots. Eventually, when I’m done running around saving the world, I’ll retire there and let them feed me and change my diapers. But until then, it’s the pirate’s life for me!” He grinned.

  Allistor snorted. “Alright, well… if you ever change your mind and want a Citadel like Ramon and Nancy have, it’s yours. You’ve more than earned it. Maybe Dover Castle?”

  “Ha! Only if you make me a knight. You should be a knight if you live in a castle.”

  “Alright, fine. I dub thee Sir Bjurstrom, Knight of Invictus!”

  To their mutual surprise, a blue light swirled around Bjurstrom, and a moment later he nearly ran the vehicle off the road from laughing. “You just really made me a knight!”

&nb
sp; “Oh, shit. Well, cool!” Allistor grinned to himself. “Young William is going to be very glad to hear about that! His dream is to become a knight.”

  “His dream right now is to successfully bonk you on the head.” Bjurstrom countered. “Followed closely by having his very own dragon to ride.” He snorted. “And you know McCoy and some of the others are gonna want to be knighted as well.”

  Allistor chuckled, his mood improving. “We’ll make them do some ridiculous test or trial, first. I’ll let you think it up. Nothing too dangerous, just embarrassing. By the way, does being a knight come with any kind of bonuses?”

  Bjurstrom pulled to one side and stopped the vehicle, then unfocused his eyes. “Says it’s a subclass, and yeah, it has its own skill tree. There are honor points that earn you skills, and… hey! I can take on a squire of my own, and give him quests. If he grows up to be a knight as well, promoting him earns me a huge amount of honor points.”

  “Alright, well I think we’ll be creating a large number of knights and squires in the near future!” Allistor gave him a fist bump, and Bjurstrom got the vehicle moving again.

  After a few minutes of silence, Bjurstrom cleared his throat. “Hey uhm… boss?”

  “Yeah?”

  “About that super sexy elf girl that was hanging around the tower yesterday.”

  Allistor tensed up. “What about her?”

  “Well, the scuttlebutt is that the elves brought her here to try and marry you. But that you’re not going for it?”

  “Well, for once the scuttlebutt is correct. Why?”

  “First of all, are you crazy? Did you see her? She’s pure fun on two legs!” He chuckled as Allistor scowled at him. “Second, you think there’s any chance she’d be interested in a real, honest to goodness knight? I mean, since you won’t be starting a harem?”

  Chapter 5

  Allistor didn’t wait for the newcomers to reach the Warren Stronghold. Shortly after he arrived, Nigel alerted him to a new issue.

  “Sire, squire William requests to speak with you immediately.”

  “Put him through please, Nigel.”

  “Allistor! It’s happening!” The boy’s voice practically squeaked with excitement. “They’re hatching! Like, really hatching this time! I can see a foot pushing through that one over there!”

  Allistor grinned at the boy’s enthusiasm. A moment later Daniel’s voice came through as well. “This is not a drill, boss. We’re about to have a bunch more mouths to feed.”

  “I’ll be right there!” Allistor ran toward the teleport pad, not even needing to speak as Nigel anticipated his needs, transferring both he and Bjurstrom to the Silo the moment they were atop the pad and holding still.

  From the Silo pad they ran to the elevator and took it all the way to the bottom level, where they’d fought the mama drake what seemed like eons ago. The moment the doors opened, both men dashed down the corridor at speeds that even pre-apocalypse Olympic sprinters would have been pressed to match.

  Entering the cavern through the huge circular door, they found Master Daigath along with dozens of Silo and Citadel residents gathered around Daniel and William, watching as the eggs wobbled and rolled about, several of them beginning to come apart as their inhabitants pushed free.

  “Allistor!” William was jumping up and down. “Look! Baby dragons!”

  “Baby drakes.” Daigath corrected the boy with a smile. “These are drakes, a lesser cousin of the dragons. They look very similar, though they do not grow nearly as large. Dragons are intelligent beings, creatures born of magic. An elder race, even older than the elves, and respected by all. Drakes are barely capable of understanding basic communication, and their magic is typically limited to the element into which they are born. Fire drakes breathe flames and are resistant to heat. Frost drakes are the opposite. Water drakes can breathe underwater, and so forth.”

  William looked slightly disappointed for about three seconds before his enthusiasm swept him away again. “They’re busting out of their eggs! Look how tiny they are!” He pointed at a few from the nearest cluster.

  Altogether the humans had found thirty four eggs after they’d defeated the female drake. The group watched, mumbling and exclaiming to each other as the eggs hatched. Tiny snouts and limbs of various colors pushed through the thick shells, widening cracks and forcing them to break apart. Behind Allistor, more and more citizens were coming through the door, with Helen and Amanda joining him after just a few minutes.

  “They’re SO cute!” Helen clapped her hands together and started toward the nearest of them. Daigath reached out a hand, holding her back.

  “They are going to be extremely hungry when they emerge, and not at all picky about what, or who, fills their bellies. I suggest you start gathering all the meat you can, and toss it over to them. Once their bellies are full, you may approach them with reasonable safety.”

  Instantly everyone in the crowd who had food in their inventory began tossing out chunks of raw meat, jerky, cheese, even granola bars. One airman sheepishly rolled several hard-boiled eggs toward the little drakelings.

  The first of the little ones to fully escape from his shell bleated out a complaint, shaking its head, then its entire body, like a dog emerging from a pond. Its tiny, leathery wings flapped on either side of its body, which was covered in blood red scales much like its mother. Then its nose went up in the air, and it turned with laser focus toward the growing pile of food on the ground. Stumbling slightly, the newborn half-walked, half-hopped over and snatched up a chunk of canid meat, raising its head high and swallowing it whole. There was a visible lump that progressed down the drakeling’s throat before the meat reached its belly. A moment later it let out a much happier sounding honk before grabbing another bite.

  One by one the drakelings made their way to the food, some with chunks of shell still stuck to them. Adorably, a green one was wearing a shell hat as it wobbled over and pushed through its siblings to get at the food. Another still had a large section of shell stuck to its belly, and used it as a sort of sled, pushing with its stubby rear legs and sliding across the cavern floor.

  There were several different colors of drakelings, and Daigath called them out as he pointed. “The white are frost drakes. Green are forest, blue are water, the red are obviously fire. That little yellow one over there is a sulfur drake, they spit acid. The brown ones are earth drakes, and the black one is thunder. They are rare, and can create storms at will.”

  “Just like Allistor!” William beamed up at his guardian.

  Helen was watching the furthest corner, and pointed to a drakeling that was obviously smaller than the others, and waddling much slower toward the food. Its scales were a luminescent silver hue. “What about the silver?”

  “Ah, yes.” Daigath smiled. “Silver drakes are quite rare. They are always female, psychic, and often possess illusion magic. All drakes can communicate telepathically with other drakes and dragons, but silvers can speak to the minds of other sentient beings.”

  When the slow-moving silver reached the throng of drakelings mobbing the dwindling food pile, the others ceased their pushing and shoving and gave way, clearing a path. The silver made her way through and almost daintily scooped up one of the boiled eggs, swallowing it shell and all before grabbing a large chunk of jerky. Flopping down on her belly, she placed one forepaw atop the hunk of meat, which was nearly as large as her tiny head, and began to gnaw on the other end, making happy-sounding grunts and growls as she chewed.

  The others gave her some space, resuming their battles for access to the food on either side of her. The observers continued to toss whatever they had in their inventories, while Daniel, who had been anticipating their need to feed as he cared for the eggs, pulled a seemingly endless supply of beef, canid, elk, and lanx meat from his storage.

  Being smaller than the others, the silver finished her first meal sooner. Her little belly full, she looked around the cavern and honked questioningly. Not seeing a mature drake, sh
e noticed the gathered crowd of humanoids and shrank back slightly.

  William took a step forward, then got down on one knee. He held out a hand, and began speaking softly to her. “It’s okay little one. We won’t hurt you. Me and Daniel, we’ve been taking care of you! Keeping your egg warm while you grew.”

  Most of the crowd gasped as the little drake seemed to recognize the boy’s voice. First her head tilted to one side, an obviously curious expression on her face. Her already large eyes widened, and she belted out a happy little honk before jumping to her feet and hopping quickly toward William.

  Allistor was stepping forward to protect the boy when Daigath reached over and held him back. “Just watch. The boy will be fine.”

  The silver flapped her wings as she hopped, unable to fly but catching enough air to extend the small hops into longer jumps. When she was within a few feet of the young squire, she folded her wings flat against her back and wobbled forward, crashing into William and knocking him backward. She was less than half his size, but her momentum pushed him onto his back. Hopping up onto his chest, she plopped down on her belly and began licking his face.

  “Ugh! Quit it!” William tried to protest even as he laughed. The concerned adults in the room relaxed a bit, and watched with smiles as the boy began to wrestle with the little silver. He rolled onto his side and dumped her off, then reached out to tickle her belly. Snorting, she lifted her wings a bit to give him better access, then extended her neck over his shoulder as if hugging him.

  “That is the cutest thing ever!” Dawn gushed from somewhere in the group. Amanda and Helen where holding onto each other, both of them smiling and crying at the same time.

  The one-on-one cuteness was short-lived, however. As the other drakelings filled their bellies, they began to follow the silver, intent on getting in on the shenanigans. Allistor pictured William being buried by a mob of little lizards, and panicked.