Bellicose, page 12
"Dismount and djevel up everyone," Mihalis said. "Azure, Rika, stay with the cars. Hanson, detail five of your wolves to keep them company."
"Got it!" Hanson, the wolf in charge of the others, replied.
Mihalis shifted into his hybrid form and summoned his wings and horns as he got out of the car. It wasn't exactly comfortable, trying to cram into the back seat when he was large to start with. The wings didn't help matters, and he kept getting his horns tangled up with the support gear for the machine gun mount.
"Are you our new prince?" a biskop asked, coming out of the building with a ridder and a byrokraatti.
"Yes, I am Prince Nega-Lion Incubus Michael! I need to find a biskop worthy of being promoted to lord of this area now that Lord Aanwijzing is no more. From what I have seen while traveling here, after replacing Lord Afgift with Lord Ringer to the north, I believe you shall be my new lord."
"There are not many biskops left here, Prince Michael. Far too many were taken to the fight against the lions, and of those that were left, several were killed when giant rocks fell from the sky after the explosion."
"How many?"
"Four, Prince Michael."
"Counting you?"
"No."
"Fine, you're now Lord Mountebank. Prostrate yourself and give me your oath. We will then go swear the remaining four to you, and if that's not enough, I'll feed them to you until it is."
"Prince Michael?" the biskop said, looking shocked.
"We can always breed more biskops; we're not going to war tomorrow, or the day after that. However, in order to do that, I need a lord—here, Now.
"Now do you want the job, or should I find someone else and feed you to them?"
'You're enjoying this way too much,' his lion said as the biskop threw himself at Mihalis' feet.
'I blame you,' Mihalis replied as the biskop immediately gave his oath.
They went through the script—at this point Mihalis knew it all to well—then he accepted the oath, and had Lord Mountebank rise.
"Now, how far and how long to visit the other four biskops?"
"It is an hour's walk to each of them."
"Then I guess we'll ride."
"Ride?" Mountebank said, looking over at the vehicles.
"Lord Ringer put up with it for two days. I'm sure you can handle a few hours. Bring your ridder and your byrokraatti. If there's anybody you don't like, we can visit them first, so you can just eat them."
"Yes, my prince, I mean, no, my prince."
"You're getting on well with the others?"
"They are all fairly weak, my prince. When the army marched through here, they ate a lot of the food and the weaker djevels."
"Great. Talin, lead us to the first biskop. I'll ride with Lord Mountebank in one of the trucks."
"Wait, which one?" Talin called back. "From what our scouts told us, there are seven settlements!"
Mihalis looked at Mountebank.
"I have had to put some of our ridders in charge to keep what survived from being lost."
"Oh, good thinking."
'Better watch this one.'
'Yup.'
"Bring me your map, and Mountebank can point to it, and we'll lead the way with the truck."
Talin nodded and trotted over with the paper map they'd been using, and Mihalis quickly went over it with Mountebank, then showed the driver where to go as they climbed up into the back.
Ten minutes later, they disembarked.
"Triopium? Why are you here, and who are these?" a biskop asked, coming up to them as they stopped.
"This is our new prince, Prince Michael, the one I heard rumors of from the runner Lord Hjul sent through last week. He has named me lord, and now wishes that I collect all your oaths."
The new biskop looked at Mihalis.
"He's Lord Mountebank now," Mihalis said, grinning at him.
"He is a good choice, my prince," the biskop said as he prostrated himself, and Mountebank took his oath.
"I can see why you don't think four will be enough," Mihalis told him as they drove off to the next one. "Hopefully eating the last one will be enough."
"And if it isn't, my prince?"
"Guess you'll have to eat whoever else is there," Mihalis told him. "I need you as a lord more than I need a bunch of biskops without a sworn leader."
The next two were sworn without a problem, but as they got back into the truck, Mountebank turned to him.
"My prince, if I may suggest something?"
"Go ahead."
"Let us go to the ridder of the next biskop first. If I am to eat the last of my biskops, I would prefer to eat his ridder first, so I do not have him plotting against me."
"I agree. Show us where to go."
Mountebank pointed to one of the settlements on the map, and Mihalis handed it to the driver. When they got there, only Mountebank dismounted with Mihalis, and led him over to the farmhouse where the ridder now lived.
Going inside, Mountebank walked up to the ridder, who looked at him in surprise.
"Triopium, what are you—"
Mountebank didn't hesitate, and simply ran his sword through the ridder's head.
"I hope his biskop is enough. I do not look forward to eating my own ridder," Mountebank said after he'd absorbed the ridder's essence. "Let us go."
Mihalis nodded and led the way back to the truck, and they drove off to the final biskop.
"Triopium? Why are you here?" the biskop asked with a frown.
"My new prince, Prince Nega-Lion Incubus Michael, has commanded me to be his new lord in this place, and to take all the oaths of the biskops here that once served Lord Aanwijzing. I am now called Lord Mountebank."
"And if I do not swear?"
"You die," Mihalis said. "Now, get on with it. I'm not a patient prince."
The biskop gave a slow nod and got down and prostrated himself, swearing his oath. When he was done, Mihalis sighed. Mountebank hadn't ascended.
Apparently, Mountebank had been ready for this, because his sword came around to take off the biskop's head almost immediately. Mihalis could only suspect that the biskop had somehow felt his ridder's death, because he came up with his sword and blocked.
And with that, the fight was on.
"We don't have time for this, Michael; the weather is closing in," Kerrie reminded him as he watched the two fight. The biskop was good, but Triopium, soon to be Lord Mountebank, was better, if not by much.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Command him to stop fighting and kneel."
"If he does that, he dies."
"And you care?"
"Oh, right," Mihalis said, blushing. Digging into the djevel power pipeline, he pumped a bunch of power into the Convince and Bend Will skills in the Dominance ability and shouted.
"Biskop! Yield to your lord!"
The biskop froze, dropped his sword, and turned his head to look at Mihalis in shock, just as Mountebank took off his head.
He felt it then, just as he had with Ringer, as Mountebank ascended to the level of lord. He got a little bigger, and his features changed enough that there would be no mistaking him.
"Congratulations, Lord Mountebank. Now, your prince has things he must be about. Do you need a ride back to your home?"
Mountebank looked at the truck and shook his head.
"No, I have things I must take care of here before I can head back there. I also need to deal with the mess I left at his ridder's camp."
"I will see if I can send some more biskops your way to help you rebuild."
"Thank you, my prince."
Mihalis nodded, got into the lead car—which Talin was now driving—and they took off.
"Okay, how bad is it?" Mihalis said, dropping his incubus wings and horns. He could feel the temperature was already starting to drop.
"We have a hundred and thirty miles to go, our top speed is about twenty-five, unless the winds get bad, and the storm will be here in two or three hours," Kerrie told him.
"Can we get air evac?"
"Nope, the weather's already getting too severe," Noje said over the comms. "I already called."
"So we've got maybe fifty miles to get to cover."
"Yup, and this looks like a big storm; we could be stuck there a few days," Kerrie added.
"So, ideas anyone?"
"Didn't Talt have some sort of underground keep or something around here?"
"Umm, I think so. Someone ping SJ and ask him to meet me on the mountain. I'll see if anybody knows where it is."
"On it!" Noje replied.
§
"Mike!" SJ said, popping in as Mihalis sat there fretting. "Noje told me you needed to talk?"
"We're east of the Jackson Mountains, out in the open, and we can't make it back to Bartertown before the storm catches us."
"And you can't get an evac because of the storm. Is there any place you can shelter?"
"Not out here, there just aren't any good options here. I've got my wives with me, SJ, my pregnant wives!"
"Oh, shit."
"Exactly. Kerrie had a thought, though; didn't Talt have something in the mountains?"
SJ chewed on his lip for a moment, thinking. "Yeah, I didn't see it, but he rolled down out of there with that huge army of his. Somebody should know where it is."
"Great, can you get them to tell us where it is? I think we can make that before the storm shuts us down."
"Sure thing. Send one of your sisters back here to wait while I find out where it is and get the info. You need to be with your wives."
"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that. Bye…" Mihalis said and popped out.
Swearing, SJ popped out as well.
§
It was almost an hour later before Noje commed them.
"I got the directions. Let me get out front."
"How far is it?" Mihalis asked.
"Give me a moment… Okay, looking at the map, it's about an hour from here."
"Gonna be close," Kerrie said.
"Oh, it's gonna be closer than that," Noje said, barking out a laugh.
"What's wrong?"
"They know where he came down out of the mountain; we need to follow an old road up along a wash into it. But it was cloudy that day, so they have no idea where the entrance is."
"What, didn't anybody ever go look?" Mihalis growled.
"Yeah, I told SJ the same thing, and boy did he look guilty, and it wasn't even his fault."
"Somebody's gonna be getting an earful tonight!" Cinnamon laughed.
"Got that right! But at least we'll be in that ravine the wash comes down out of, so that'll help protect us until the worst of the storm hits."
The next hour was one of the most nerve-wracking ones Mihalis had ever spent, and even his lion was fretting over this one, because he had his pride of expecting wives with him, and the temperature had continued to drop so fast they had to pull over for a few minutes and break out the cold-weather gear and get everyone suited up. Jade moved to Cinnamon and Brost's car, while Kerrie went with Noje and Harmony to spread out the weight in the cars in case the wind got any worse.
The trucks weren't as susceptible to the winds, but they were already speed limited by their overall weight and the size of the vehicles. As the wind picked up, that weight helped them more than hindered them, and Mihalis was considering dumping all the scout cars and moving everyone into the two trucks if the winds got bad enough.
When they finally passed through a small ranch town with a series of buildings that looked freshly bombed, they turned onto the road that followed the old wash and started up into the mountains.
"Okay, in about five miles, we'll be where they were first seen. After that, everyone keep your eyes open and look for anything suspicious. It may be a cave, a tunnel, even a big ass door or gate. We just know it's up there, not what it looks like."
"Hey! It's warming up!" one of the wolves commed.
"That means it's about to snow."
"What?"
"It has to warm up to snow, otherwise you get ice, and we don't want to get pelted with ice!"
"Oh, hell's no!"
Mihalis was going through his spells, trying to think of something that would help them find the opening, when the snow hit. It started off light at first, but within a few minutes, they were in a heavy blizzard. Everyone had their lights on, and they'd been forced to slow down to almost a crawl so they wouldn't lose sight of each other.
As they climbed further up into the mountain, the sides of the ravine did cut down on the wind, but the snowfall was getting deep, fast, as it was funneled down towards the bottom.
"Hey! I think I got a hot spot!" Noje called out.
"What spell are you using?" Mihalis asked.
"Thermal scope on your rifle, dummy!" Harmony called back.
Swearing, Mihalis grabbed his rifle and powered up the scope.
"Where is it?"
"Off to our right!"
Bringing up his rifle, he used the scope to look that way, and just as he found it, several others called out that they saw it, too.
"Great, get us in there. Even if it's just a cave, we need to get out of the open."
Talin followed Harmony, who was driving the car with Noje and Kerrie as she drove the first car inside; Caitin, who was driving the third, came next; then Brost following in the fourth.
"We got a problem," Hanson called on the comms.
"What is it?"
"We're stuck! We can't make the corner in this weather to get in."
"Grab all the food and survival gear and hoof it inside! Leave the trucks out there. Not like they're gonna go anywhere."
"Got it!"
"There's some sort of door up ahead," Noje called back as the brake lights on her car came on.
"Find a good place to park, and we'll dismount and wait for the wolves to catch up before we do any exploring."
"Well, at least we're out of the snow and the wind," Taeria said. "If worse comes to worst, we can just pitch our tents in here."
"What about the door?" Kerrie asked.
"It's probably deserted inside; I mean, didn't Talt take all his people with him to the battle?"
"Umm… Mike?"
Mihalis shrugged. "Guess we're gonna find out. But how about some food first?"
"Yeah, food first, then we explore!" Azure said, coming over with Rika, the two of them shivering. "We're not exactly built for this weather."
"Oh? What kind of weather are you built for?"
"Ummm, Monaco?"
"Figures," Talin said, snickering.
Surprise, Surprise!
"I'm gonna grab a couple of the wolves and get some sort of barrier strung behind the last car to see if we can cut down on the breeze," Harmony said, shifting into her lioness hybrid form.
"Good idea," Mihalis said. "Az, Rik, see if you can get into your hybrid forms."
"Ummm…" Rika said, looking a little unsure.
"I'd think not wanting to freeze would be something you could both agree on?" he said, rolling his eyes.
A moment later, he had a while lioness hybrid dolled up rather fashionably in a parka, next to a black lioness hybrid similarly attired.
"Mike…" Cinnamon said.
"Mike…" Talin said.
"EARTH TO MICHAEL!" Kerrie yelled, startling him.
"What?" he said, turning around.
"What are you doing?"
"Appreciating the view?" he said, looking embarrassed, then frowned as Jade kicked him in the leg. "What? I stared at both of you when you got your hybrid forms down."
"Okay, you're forgiven, this time," Jade huffed. "Now, get over here and help us set up some gear so we can get some hot food?"
"Oh, right."
"So, any better?" Harmony said, coming over to join them with five of the wolves in tow as Caitin and Talin passed out bowls of hot stew.
"Actually, yes, it's a lot better," Talin said, looking up. "When are we going to tackle that door, Michael?"
"After everyone's eaten, I'll look at it."
"And… who else?"
Mihalis sighed. "I'll take Cinn, Noje, and Harm."
"And Tae, Jade, and half the wolves."
"Tal, I'm sure there's nothing down there."
"Well, there's even less up here, so that means you have space for all of them, don't you?" she said, smiling at him.
"Give it up, Bro, you ain't winning this one," Noje whispered to him. "She's got those Mom Roxy eyes goin' on."
"Fine…"
"Better," Talin said, still smiling. "Besides, if it's as empty down there as you think, you'll need that many to explore the place."
"Well, let's see if these doors are locked, and if so, how to open 'em," Mihalis said, getting up and walking around to where Noje had parked the first car. He touched them carefully, and nothing happened. He tried pushing on them next; they didn't even sway.
Calling up his enchanting framework, he took another look.
"It's magic," Taeria said, coming up from behind them. "I can see it."
"Any idea how it works?"
"Someone hasn't taught me enough to know," she teased, looking at Mihalis. "Buuut, I can tell you this spot right here" —she pointed to a symbol on the door— "is what's controlling it."
Noje and Cinnamon came up behind him and both looked at it.
"I think if you put a Dispel on it, it'll drain it and open," Noje said, looking over the door.
Mihalis nodded. Now that he was looking at it using his enchanting framework, it didn't look all that complicated.
"Well, stand back, just in case," he said and cast a simple Dispel on it after the girls had moved back.
"Hmm, that didn't cause anything to happen," he said. Putting a hand on it, he pushed, and the large, vault-like door slowly swung open a few inches without making a sound.
"That's one hell of a counterweight system," Kerrie said, standing up and quickly walking over.
"Huh?"
"Mike, how thick is that door? Look at the frame around it." She pointed, and it was easily eight inches thick.
"I think she's onto something," Taeria said. "Push it all the way open."
