by Zack Finley
Happy had little time to protest as Argon encased him with her hot depths. She then recaptured my lips while tantalizing Happy with a series of muscular clenches. I found myself responding in so many ways as Argon presented me with a lesson in the ways magic could enhance our sexual pleasure.
There was something primal involved in being ridden by one’s mate. I knew the slow play was over when she released my lips and began riding me in earnest. She used her powerful leg muscles to control the pace as she rose above me only to come sliding down with exquisite control to drive me deep inside of her. All the while my skin was reacting to the feather-like caresses with the occasional nip in luscious contrast. I used my own magic to drive deeper and harder into her core. Our minds were intertwined, which increased the sensations a hundred-fold. It wasn’t clear who’s orgasm led the other, and it didn’t matter. I just knew I had to hold her to me as we both shuddered through the mind-blowing near agony of sensual overload.
As I lay slack, holding my Argon blanket tightly against me, I couldn’t imagine my life without her. And I knew deep inside me that she felt the same. No hidden feelings and no hidden reservations. I was only whole because I found her. She was more than my mate, she was part of me.
“Remember that when you are floating off without me,” Argon sent. “I cannot live without you. So, you must not take foolish chances.”
“No foolish chances,” I promised.
◆◆◆
Chapter 16
A hasty shower, breakfast, and goodbyes the next morning as we separated for our different assignments. Argon left with Cleon and I ‘ported to the Malan off the coast of Pirate City.
Capt. Malek couldn’t hide his disapproval of my planned transportation. I’d told him the force sphere would be about 6 feet in diameter. His sailmaker created a shroud for the sphere from sailcloth, rather than use the net, explaining it was stronger and lighter. The net platform where I would ride was attached to this shroud using strong ropes through grommets in the sail.
It was fancier than I’d envisioned but it was lightweight and looked strong enough to carry me. Now all I had to do was see if I could fly. It was already on a ship’s boat ready to take it to the beach. I tied the balloon basket to the longboat to allow me to experiment with the lift.
I assured Capt. Malek and Argon I wouldn’t leave the beach unless I had full control. The beach Capt. Malek chose for my launch was perfect. There was a long strand of rocky sand and grass between the water’s edge and the forest.
The boat crew helped me lay out the sail and net on the sand. I attached a short section of rope from the boat to the net. I formed a one-foot diameter force field around air, similar to the ones I’d used to breathe in a hostile environment. I had two members of the crew hold open the shroud so I could place the sphere inside it. The men seemed surprised when the shroud remained on the ground. I sat in the net and slowly strengthened and expanded the sphere. As I did, the shroud lifted off. I shrank the field until the shroud was floating but I was still firmly on the ground.
Bracing myself for liftoff, I slowly increased the size of the sphere. I calculated that I should have enough buoyancy in the sphere to carry me by tripling the sphere size while the keeping the amount of air stored inside the same. This was equivalent to heating the air up. I decided to try this instead of heating the air. If it worked, once I had the right buoyancy, I wouldn’t have to keep adjusting it. I avoided starting with a vacuum since my early experience with it turned out so badly. I was a lot better with force fields today, so hoped leaving some air inside the field would lead to a better outcome.
At just over twice the diameter the balloon and I were aloft, straining the rope attached to the longboat. I shrank the balloon back to only a slight pull, easily overcome by me pulling on the rope. The end of the rope had a quick release knot. I rose slowly to the end of the rope. I estimated I would now miss the trees at the forest edge.
I cast an invisibility cloak spell, then asked the sailors to release me. I continued to climb, and the onshore breeze pushed me toward the tree line. I let the com hub know I was on my way.
It was the quiet that surprised me. I watched the forest move beneath me. I knew it was an illusion, but I felt I wasn’t moving. I was fixed in space watching the ground rush by beneath me.
I tried fine tuning the force sphere and found that my control was not precise enough. After a near disaster, I added a second smaller force sphere and used it for finetuning the lift. This allowed me to leave the main “balloon” alone. The secondary bladder made a funny bump in the sailcloth but turned out to be a better design, at least with my ability to control the force shields. The amount of force magic they required for maintenance was less than the trickle I produced. I shouldn’t need the magic stored in my armor or belt for this trip.
I had my mind-reading app set at its broadest range, and nothing showed, except during my mage pulses. Those with Duchy mind shields showed up as mages on my app. I knew by past experimentation I could spot an unshielded person within a 10-mile radius. My pulses only worked at about half that distance. Argon had theorized we could expand the pulse effectiveness by using a low powered one first to make sure no one was nearby, then gradually boost the pulses until we noticed someone.
I didn’t intend to try that today.
The novelty of floating on air waned. I played around with steering the balloon with air magic. Small adjustments worked really well. I practiced hovering in place and moving to one side then the other. A slalom course might be a challenge, but I could choose a spot and land there if need be.
Maps I’d seen of this region showed a vast area of wilderness. My mind-reading app confirmed the absence of people. Argon told me there were many villages not on maps, but there were also immense areas in each country where no Jaloans lived. Most villages were either located near a river route or next to a special resource. There were very few roads. A modest network of paths and river routes connected the out-of-the-way villages with each Kingdom’s major cities. Even hunters seldom strayed far from their homes.
Putting a large group of people into a wilderness area wasn’t something a Jaloan would have thought up. My team was uneasy with this plan but hadn’t thought of a better option. None knew anything about rural Kavil or Ylee, so we only had the primitive maps to go by.
I was reluctant to nap and the forest below me seldom varied. Occasionally, small streams or low hills broke the monotony. The wind speed was a steady 10 miles an hour, based on my primitive calculations.
I conjured a pair of iron nozzles and had to adjust the main bladder to offset the weight. As it was any attempt to push air through them nearly dumped me out of the basket. The nozzles shot the basket abruptly forward pulling the balloon behind me. I needed to push the balloon directly. I adjusted my buoyancy and banished the nozzles.
This trip I was limited to going the speed of the wind.
I began looking for a place to land when my direction sense said I was about a third of the distance away from the coast. The ground had been rising steadily for more than an hour.
I needed to relieve myself and decided a ‘port location near a suitable water source could become a potential spot for a secondary colony.
I’d spotted numerous idyllic sites during my morning’s journey, so I wasn’t surprised to find another soon after I started looking. I landed the balloon on a row of hills on the far side of a valley. I tied off the balloon and attended to business. Argon offered to bring lunch, and we held a picnic overlooking the verdant valley. The valley was split by a small stream, not large enough to canoe down but it looked like it would flow year ‘round.
I learned Clive and Tobron were hard at work constructing the tunnel complex under north Pirate City. Loma and Inoa were closeted on some project. Alba had assumed responsibility for the orphanages after having visited each one. She healed a lot of younglings but declined to share what she found with Argon. Cleon and Jorvik were meeting with the volunteers f
rom the Armorer’s Guild. It sounded like things were progressing nicely.
Argon couldn’t stay long, but I appreciated her thoughtfulness. It made continuing the journey easier and harder at the same time.
I spotted another suitable village site near the halfway point and logged the teleport location. I still hadn’t spotted anyone on my mind-reading app since leaving the coast.
At dusk, I landed my balloon and tied it off to a tree, then ported to meet Argon at the Keep.
Over dinner, I heard there had been a lot of worry about my journey amongst the partners. None had ever conceived of such a travel method. I just wished it was faster.
Tobron told everyone that the tunnel complex was essentially complete and Jorvik’s ward breakers were preparing breaches for each manor house. Some of the wards were very difficult to defeat, and they were picking them apart with great care to avoid setting off tamper alarms. We suspected to find the tougher mages in these residences.
Most of the manors already breached had warded rooms inside them. Inoa had recruited several excellent mind mages from the com hub to passively monitor the locations. She felt that after monitoring for the next night and day cycle, we could be prepared to move on all the manors inside the walled area.
The guard house had no wards. the burrowers were ready to cut two large entrances for whatever assault was planned on the next night. The final attack on the palace was scheduled for the morning after the walled section was emptied.
There was some indecision about whether to stage people in key locations or to just strike the palace by surprise. I favored surprise. I asked whether sneaking in through the roof would be a good tactic. This was considered a novel approach. Cleon got the task of taking down the palace. I suspected staging people on the roof would play some part in the assault.
Capturing the moored pirate ship and keeping the docks shut down would fall to Gera and Capt. Malek’s first mate in the powered longboats.
Capt. Malek and the Malan would serve as the final stopper to keep any ship from leaving or entering the Pirate City harbor.
Cleon had a crew designated to target the market, stunning vendors and patrons alike after the palace assault. It was the last large place of assembly, with its mix of guards and civilians. Any roaming city guards would be stunned as they were encountered.
We expected removing Pirate City leadership and the guard up front would stop any active resistance inside north Pirate City. We didn’t have enough people to also attack the various pirate companies in their separate compounds. We knew it was a calculated risk but thought the fog of war would keep them from becoming a threat. The best we could do was post scouts at their entrances to monitor them. We’d send reinforcements to deal with any compound sending an organized force into the city.
Once the main north Pirate City objectives were secure, Cleon would send personnel to the outskirts of north Pirate City and begin stunning everyone still on the streets. Loma and her crew would come in behind the stunners and place the warded poles at the edges of north Pirate City. Once that was done, we would withdraw and give the wards a chance to work.
Inoa and Jorvik were in charge of securing all captured mages.
Once north Pirate City was secure, Loma would place the rest of the warded poles around the south city perimeter.
It was a plan. Not a great plan. But the best we could come up with. Everything depended on removing the mages from the fight. And the effectiveness of Loma’s wards.
We were on the cusp of committing the Duchy to attack an enemy who seriously out-numbered us. I expected the toughest battles to be in the manors. There was still much I didn’t know about magical warfare, and I feared that would translate into casualties. But we had the initiative and the element of surprise on our side.
By attacking Pirate City, I feared we were painting a bullseye on the Duchy. That meant we could expect to be targeted. I just hoped to be ready when the attack came.
I was the only one without an overnight assignment. Most of our leadership was on a nighttime schedule, in preparation for tomorrow night’s attack. When I questioned Tobron about why I had no assignment, he reminded me I still had a way to go tomorrow in my balloon.
That left me free to fret over the plan and preparations. Tobron suggested I act like a Duke and visit with my followers. It was counter-intuitive, but I trusted Tobron knew more about Dukes than I did.
I had the com hub notify my tinkers to meet me in their shop. I wanted to catch up on the progress they had made on numerous fronts.
I wasn’t disappointed. They had an upscale version of my longboat design ready to test on barges. After talking with the new Duchy barge mages, they modified the design to improve maneuverability. They had intended the barges be steered using the tiller with the jets locked in place. While that was still an option, they added a movable nozzle to the outside of each jet. They were very pleased with the linkage that allowed both to be steered by one person.
The barge mages weren’t worried about stopping the barge, as they had plenty of force magic they would no longer be using to push the barge. My tinkers weren’t satisfied with that. They designed a third jet they wanted to mount in the middle of the stern. The jet extended below the bottom of the barge. They had designed it to be rotated a full 360 degrees using a wagon wheel instead of a tiller bar to turn it. My tinkers couldn’t wait to try out their designs on a real barge. I shared their excitement. They estimated the new barges could make a round trip on the rivers in a fraction of the time for a conventional barge.
I was expecting the enhanced barges to bring goods directly down river and to the Keep, skipping offloading the barge and loading the goods onto a sailing ship in the Klee harbor. Capt. Malek cautioned me about the hazards of doing this in poor weather, but I challenged him to redesign our barges to make them more seaworthy.
The new barge jets weren’t the only new stuff my tinkers had to share. They had begun assembling the barnta powered gristmill.
The Duchy had unsuccessfully tried to buy a grist mill. Milling was another highly secretive occupation. My tinkers visited two operating mills, but only after substantial bribes crossed hands. This forced us to begin fabricating our first gristmill from scratch. The two mills they visited weren’t identical, but the fundamentals of the gearing and millstones were close enough. I was told they used team communications quite effectively. One kept the tour guide distracted while the other two got detailed measurements and sketches.
The success of the longboats made believers out of my tinkers. They weren’t ready to redesign the gristmill to be run by steam or air, but they were now considering the possibilities. With the immediate need for both flour and fertilizer, they had agreed to build a bare-bones barnta powered mill. A conventional mill, with an eye on future improvements. Clive’s builders already had the main structure built. The carpenters were fabricating key parts of the grain and flour handling system.
Forst had already fabricated the large gears needed to transfer the power of yoked barntas walking around in circles at only a few revolutions per minute to spinning the grinding wheel at over 100 rpm.
The whole tinker crew was excitedly exploring using gears for other projects. Only Klid had used gears before now. Traditional blacksmithing avoided their use, so it was new to Flmo.
With Clive’s help Forst conjured and mounted the millstones. We were lucky Clive had experience in this area or we’d have had to experiment.
The grain would be hoisted to the top of the mill using pulleys. Gravity fed the grain through the center of the rotating top stone onto the bed stone. The grind was set using screws which minutely raised or lowered the top stone. As the grain was ground into smaller and smaller particles, the grooves in the stones pushed the flour to the edge of the stones and down a chute.
They expected to begin trial runs within the week. They had reluctantly agreed not to make too many changes to this mill but only after Ellte threatened them. All agreed that a single mill
wasn’t going to be enough to supply the Duchy so their experimentation would really begin with mill number two.
I had planned to have them play around with propulsion for a balloon but decided that could wait. These guys were their own distraction, they didn’t need me adding to that. Revolutionizing barges and gristmills were a good start. I’d wait until after Pirate City to introduce more chaos.
Checking on the farmers was my next port of call. I was starting to worry that Perga never got any rest. He was with Maude when I trotted up. The construction of the gristmill was important to them. They weren’t as enthused about how much grain storage was available. They admitted the grain wouldn’t be ready to harvest for weeks, so there was time.
I told them the tinkers were looking at ways to streamline handling of the grain, including feeding it to the gristmill. I suggested the farmers drop by the tinker shop to discuss harvesting plans.
The other main topic was housing. The farmers were jealous of the ranchers. They wanted to live with their plants, the way the ranchers got to live with their livestock. I assured them the leadership would discuss it. They were even willing to live in one of the guardhouses in the wall to avoid taking up growing spaces.
Maude had no complaints, which I found odd. When I asked her how things were going, she just said, “Ellte is handling so much.”
I asked whether the fish’s poison had caused any trouble and she assured me the plants just broke it down.
“While the plants inside the dome really wish the rains would fall, they are grateful for our offerings. None are hungry or thirsty anymore. All is in harmony. Oh, there are the individual complaints about why one field got an extra fish, but on the whole, all is good,” said Maude. Perga nodded.
We now had most of the available area within the walls under cultivation. Two areas were being saved for future jarma herds, but other than that we were surrounded by green.
“We will want to expand the outer wall at some point, but we still have efficiencies to gain and optimization to achieve before going there. Planning crop rotations and orchard renewals will keep us occupied for months,” said Maude. “We haven’t even started on harmonizing wards.”
