Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four

by Dave Willmarth

  “And he has great focus. At least when it comes to vengeance.” The ripples in the mist held both amusement and sorrow.

  Harmon nodded, a half smile tugging at his lips. “He is quite determined to kill you and your kin. Though I am trying to lessen his thirst for revenge, make him see that it is neither practical, nor wise.”

  “We have time enough to prepare for that eventuality, my friend. In the meantime, more urgent matters bring me here. What can you tell me of the fomorian encounter?”

  “Nothing that you don’t already know, I’m sure. Your information gathering resources are far superior to my own. Allistor went into what he thought was a goblin horde nest. Instead, he found fomorians, including a Patron and a Scion. When things calm a bit, I will have my people excavate what remains of the ground to see if they can locate the Matron. With the ordinance Allistor dropped, it may be that she was simply vaporized.”

  Baldur nodded his bulbous head, two of his tentacles rubbing together much as a human might wring their hands. “Let us hope you find remains. I would not like to imagine a fomorian Matron stalking our young prince to retrieve her Orb. He is not prepared, and though he himself might survive, anyone between them would perish. I suspect that would destroy him.”

  Harmon simply nodded, not responding for a moment.

  “There will soon be two more human princes of Earth. They are gathering followers, and claiming resources, though not as rapidly as Allistor. You might encourage him to expand his holdings to other continents, otherwise our hopes for him might become more difficult to achieve.”

  “He’s already thinking along those lines, if on a small scale. He told me recently he wants to install a defense net around Earth, and has a plan to make that happen. I’m sure he’s planning some kind of alliance with other leaders, and a vote of approval. Then he’ll pay for it himself, knowing him.”

  “That would not be such a bad thing, if our plans fail. Having control of a planet’s defense net is having control of the planet, if one is ruthless enough to use it so.”

  “Allistor can be hard when he needs to be. He’s shown that often enough. But I don’t think he has it in him to become a tyrant. At least, not unless it was absolutely necessary to preserve his race. And putting him in that position would be playing a dangerous game indeed.”

  Baldur shook his head, all of his tentacles waving slowly, pushing the mist toward the merchant. “Let us not consider that, yet. I also wish to preserve the human race, as they are a favorite of mine. We shall let things unfold as they will, and apply pressure, or provide a small bit of assistance, here and there. If a heavier hand is needed at some point, we will consider how to proceed at that time.”

  “Speaking of heavier hands, do you suspect Loki of installing the fomorians?” Harmon looked left and right as if worried about eavesdroppers, despite knowing that his security measures prevented that. Even speaking Loki’s name where it might be overheard could mean a death sentence.

  “Oddly enough, I do not. I know he has interfered in other ways, like with Xar’Dakra appearing during stabilization. I suspect he was behind the Occulant, the Leprechauns, and the goblin colonists attacking one of Allistor’s people. And, of course, it was Loki and Hel that triggered the acquisition of earth ahead of schedule, at a time when the System would view the humans’ industry and pollution of the planet as grounds for extermination.” The mists vibrated off of Baldur in waves of anger. “They will pay for that.”

  “I’m told that Loki has claimed his own territory here on Earth. A large island in the ocean to the west of us.”

  “He will not stop at one.” Baldur confirmed. “He will claim more islands until he has secured enough land to earn the title of Prince. As he does with each new planet.”

  Harmon shook his head. “What is the point of that? He is already more powerful than any planetary prince. Or emperor, for that matter.”

  “I suspect it is simply a matter of habit, at this point. In the beginning, he played the games of planetary politics to increase his own power, and for the enjoyment of destroying other powerful leaders, friend or enemy. Now I think he just doesn’t want to break the streak.” He paused, his head tilting to one side. “Though, he does seem to have taken a special interest in Allistor and Earth. That may be my fault.”

  Harmon made a mental connection. “Which is why you’re going to such efforts to assist Allistor.”

  “In part, my friend.”

  “Well, your suggestion to bring Master Daigath to meet Allistor has already borne fruit. He likely would not have survived the encounter with the fomorians had Daigath not given him some training just before the battle.”

  Baldur chuckled, the sound more like a gurgle to Harmon’s ears. “And as usual, our young prince took a suggestion that was meant to assist him personally, and expanded it to include class trainers for everyone on Earth. This is another of the reasons I choose to support him.”

  “Any other… suggestions you’d like me to pass on?” Harmon grinned at Baldur.

  “Yes. The Orb. Until we know that the Matron is no threat, encourage him to secure it someplace far from himself. A place with as few guards as possible, to reduce losses should she move to reclaim it. I’d rather see it returned to her than see Allistor suffer over its defense.”

  “And if the Matron is dead?”

  “Then you and Daigath can guide him in how best to make use of it. I suggest a trade of some sort, and quickly. Others will learn of its existence and location, and would stop at nothing to claim it for themselves. As long as that artifact is in his possession, it is a danger to him and his people.”

  “Agreed.” Harmon nodded. “Daigath has already told Allistor the same. And warned him that it would be decades, at least, before he could make use of its power himself.”

  “Thank you, my old friend. Let me know what payment you desire for your service here, and it shall be yours.”

  Harmon shook his head. “No, old friend. No payment needed. I like Allistor, and would help him regardless. Plus, he has gifted me a ridiculous amount of wealth in just the short time I’ve known him, hoping only for friendship in return.”

  “He has good instincts. He could find few better friends in this life or any other than Harmon, Emperor of the Orcanin.”

  “I am but a simple merchant here.” Harmon grinned. “But I thank you for the kind words, Ancient One. May you find peace and harmony.” He bowed his head. There was a faint pop, and a rapid motion of the mists as they filled in the vacuum left by Baldur’s instant exit. Harmon pressed a button on his wrist, and machines began to pump the mists from his office.

  *****

  Amanda was examining a woman who’d been injured while clearing a nearby apartment building, when Allistor stuck his head into her infirmary office. “Hey, pretty lady!”

  When both women looked his direction and smiled, he blushed slightly. “Pretty… ladies. I uh, wanted to see if one of you would like to have a quiet, romantic dinner this evening.”

  When both women nodded their heads, then laughed in unison, he realized he was digging himself deeper. “Er… I mean, the one of you that’s currently engaged to marry me.” He looked at the woman, an apologetic smile on his face. “Not that a quiet dinner with you wouldn’t be lovely, I’m sure.”

  Now the woman was blushing, and Amanda gave him a mock scowl. “Am I that easily replaced? You cad!”

  “Oh! Before I forget, Daniel needs you ASAP.” He gave her a significant look. “There’s been some recent activity…”

  The woman on the exam table exclaimed, “Oh! Are the dragons hatching?”

  He shook his head. “Is there anyone who doesn’t know about our secret stash of dragon eggs?”

  She took the question seriously, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. “No… I think it’s pretty common knowledge. Everybody is excited to see whether we can tame them. Like the murder chickens. Imagine if we had murder chicken cavalry on the ground, and dragonriders in
the air!”

  Amanda laughed, patting the woman’s shoulder. “Okay, we’re all done here. Thank you. It seems I need to head over to Cheyenne right away if I’m going to be done and get back here for a romantic dinner with a semi-handsome prince!”

  The two women shared a smile, and Amanda moved to give Allistor a peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you tonight. Tell Meg I want the special.” She moved on through the door without further explanation.

  Curious, Allistor went to the kitchen to find Meg. She was coordinating the ever-growing kitchen staff in their preparation of the evening meal. The Tower’s kitchen was feeding several thousand mouths three times each day, and producing remarkably good food with significant buffs each time. He was very proud of them.

  “Hiya, Meg!” He gave a little wave as she looked up. As usual, she had a knife in hand.

  “Allistor. Is there a problem? Have you come to tell me you just recruited ten thousand more people I need to feed in the next few hours?” Her tone was harsh, but she used the tip of her knife to stab a cookie from a nearby plate, then flick it in Allistor’s direction.

  He caught the sugary projectile and grinned, before taking a bite, then speaking with his mouth full. “Nope! I mean, we did just recruit several thousand dwarves, but they’ll be setting up a home in Yellowstone, and cooking for themselves.” He paused to swallow. “Good cookie!”

  Meg glared at him, but there was a small smile on her face. “The girls baked those.”

  “I’ll be sure and compliment them when I see them. Also, I’m here to deliver a message from her royal highness. I asked her to have a quiet dinner with me tonight and she asked me to request the special.” He waggled his fingers as he spoke the words, giving them extra emphasis.

  Meg paused her meal prep for a moment, her smile widening just a bit. “Understood.”

  Allistor stared, waiting for more. When Meg just resumed chopping some vegetables, he asked, “That’s it?”

  “Your request has been received, Prince Allistor. The meal will be prepared per Lady Amanda’s specifications, and delivered to your quarters at the appropriate time.” Meg didn’t look up from her work.

  Feeling dismissed, Allistor turned in time to see Fuzzy gingerly lifting a cookie off the plate. Both man and bear retreated before Meg noticed.

  Back at his usual spot in the lobby, Allistor took a little time to talk with his people, just sort of hanging out. Fuzzy went outside to romp around with some of the kids, his new favorite pastime. The children had taken to ‘kidnapping’ his Fibble doll, Fuzzy chasing them down to retrieve it. The whole process involved much roaring, screaming, giggling, and slobber.

  After a while, he found himself alone in the lounge area, and pulled up his interface. Something had been poking at the back of his mind, as if he’d forgotten something important. The last time that happened, he’d neglected to investigate the other Strongholds within the new Invictus City walls, and some folks had died before he got to them.

  “Investigate!” He shouted, causing some folks crossing the lobby to start, then stare questioningly. He gave an apologetic wave, then focused on his interface tabs. He was looking for old notifications regarding his parks. Ones that he’d tagged and set aside when Helen first awarded him the whole list of park service properties. It took a minute, but he found them.

  “Let’s see here…” He mumbled as he scrolled through the notifications. The System had alerted him when he took ownership of the parks that there were trespassers in several of them. Just like with the Lakota tribe he’d encountered at Thunder Basin, these people were probably getting hostile notifications every time they entered or hunted on the parkland. Which meant that they likely felt a little hostile toward Allistor in return.

  Leaving the lobby, he took the elevator up to the conference room with the pedestal, and sat at the long table. “Nigel, please display a map delineating all of the parks I own.” A thought occurred to him. “Do you have access to my notifications? Can you highlight the parks that have trespassers?”

  As a map of the continent flashed up, including the Hawaiian islands, Nigel replied, “I do not normally have access to your interface or notifications, sire. But as you’ve asked me to retrieve information from them, I have limited access that allows me to do so. Much as I am able to share enemy locations to your interface map when requested.” As he spoke, the blue hologram map developed green shaded areas signifying each of the parks. A moment later, several of them were marked with a red dot. Nigel didn’t bother to explain the marking.

  “Thank you, Nigel. Good to know.”

  Allistor examined the map, using hand motions to zoom in and out, or move the perspective in various directions. There were more red dots than he expected, and another question arose. “Nigel, can you add the dates of the first trespass notification for each park?”

  “Certainly, sire.”

  Each of the red dots now had a date underneath it in gold lettering. The dates were all three-digit numbers. It took Allistor a moment to realize that they corresponded to the number of days since Earth was seized and transported. Earth’s old calendar system had been tossed aside, and a new one put in place.

  It was easy enough to identify the date that Helen had made him a prince by assigning him the rights to all the parks. The vast majority of the notifications were from that date. But about a third of them had more recent dates marked, including one that was very recent. “So, people are moving into the parks post-stabilization. Which means they either didn’t have a safe place, or they decided to abandon it once the System stopped spawning new monsters.”

  Allistor decided to take that as a good sign, imagining people spreading out into the open areas of his parks to do some farming. Something that would have been difficult and dangerous during stabilization, especially if the people were low level.

  The closest park showing a recent notification was Fire Island National Seashore, just east of old New York City, running parallel to the southern shoreline of Long Island. Allistor checked the time on his interface.

  “Nigel, where is Kira?”

  “She is aboard the Phoenix, performing drills with bridge crew trainees, sire.”

  “Please connect me, Nigel.”

  It only took a few seconds for Kira’s voice to fill the conference room. “What’s up, boss?”

  “Feel like taking a short hop out to the east? I have trespassers to investigate at a bunch of the parks, and Fire Island is the closest. We can hop over, talk to whoever it is, and be back for supper.”

  “Sounds good to me. See you in a few.”

  Allistor was already up and moving, stepping onto the elevator that Nigel had ready for him. When he got to the ground level, Fuzzy was still playing with the children, and Allistor decided to leave him to it. Five minutes later he was aboard the Phoenix and heading up to the bridge as Kira lifted off. When he arrived on the bridge, he was surprised to see several kids at the various stations.

  Kira didn’t wait for him to ask. “Turns out, as a Master Instructor with the Pilot class, I can give quests to learn the various skills required to operate the ship. And they get the same skill level bonus you got when I started teaching you to fly. Let me show you.”

  Quest Received: Fly Like An Eagle

  Pilot Kira has offered you a quest. Learn to pilot the Phoenix.

  Reward: 100,000xp; Aviator Skill Level Increase; Ability to pilot space vessels up to and including Galleon Class. Accept? Yes/No

  Allistor selected yes, then hopped into the captain’s seat when Kira vacated it. She took up position next to him, and walked him through the controls as the ship hovered a thousand feet above the parking garage.

  “This is… a lot like some of the flight simulator games. Except in three dimensions with holographic controls.” Allistor mumbled, tentatively touching the holo-controls where Kira indicated.

  “This is all just to help you learn the skill.” Kira nodded her head in approval of his actions. “You could technical
ly just ask Alpha the AI to take you to the spot you indicate on the map, and the ship can fly itself.” As she spoke, she made a motion in front of Allistor, and a map hologram appeared before them both. There was a flashing golden dot on top of the Fire Island park. “But for our purposes today, you use these thrusters to alter our heading, and then these to move forward and adjust our speed…”

  In all it took about ten minutes for the Phoenix to make the trip to their destination with Allistor at the controls. Kira had him stop, turn, and go the wrong direction a few times, then correct his course, reminding him that navigation was a big part of piloting. Under her direction, he carefully landed the ship in a vacant lot not far from a lighthouse on the narrow strip of sand that made up the island. Allistor was disappointed when he didn’t get a quest completion notification, or a skill level up. It seemed he needed to do more flying.

  Kira remained on the ship with the kids, continuing their training as Allistor used the smaller ramp to exit the ship. Taking a moment to make sure the immediate area was clear of any dangerous critters, he took in the sight of the waves lapping along the beach, inhaling the clean salt air.

  Kira’s voice came through the radio earpiece. “Our sensor technician in training says there are three infrared signatures inside the lighthouse. Probably human.”

  Allistor grinned. The sensor technician in training was a little girl about seven years old.

  “Thank you, Sensors. Great job!” he called back, knowing Nigel or Alpha would transmit his reply for all the crew to hear.

  The lighthouse and its accompanying building were less than a hundred yards away to his east. Hoping to make friends of whomever was inside, he elected not to equip a weapon. But not being a total idiot, he did cast Barrier in front of himself as he walked.

  Allistor was less than halfway there when a door opened and an elderly man stepped out. He stood nearly six feet tall, his back and shoulders still straight. Dressed in khaki pants and a plaid shirt, he had a full head of long white hair that fluttered slightly in the breeze. “That’s good, hold it right there!” he spoke just loudly enough for Allistor to hear, his gaze flicking around nervously. “What do you want?” A shotgun appeared from behind his back, pointed at Allistor.