The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2

Chapter 70

Part 12

“I just got a message from my mother.” Helemia announced. “Our parents are sending us some snacks.

Clear some ground right here, about six meters square.”

A few seconds later a huge U-shaped table appeared, piled high with baked treats, cookies, whole

fruits, iced fruit purees, and dozens of varieties of small hors d’oeuvres.

“Thank you, we love you too!” the four conquerors called to their unseen parents.

“There’s enough here for five items for each of you.” Karzog announced to the entire gathering. “Form

an orderly line, and no taking extras.”

“Ahh, that’s so adorable!” a female Sylvan laughed. “The babies are out conquering, and their parents

sent them treats!”

“Don’t be too smart about it, or I’ll call you into the ring for a round or two.” Helemia warned.

“Of course, your mightiness!” the girl laughed, and gave them a mocking salute before moving to get

into the line for the snack table before it got too long.

“These Sylvan do like to live dangerously, don’t they?” Helemia commented, and fetched her selections

of snacks from the table by Movement.

By one hour to midnight, there was no one fighting in the ring anymore, and most of the gathering were

having sex. Few of the Sylvan chose to seek a semblance of privacy among the trees or the unfinished

constructions; most of them just covered a spot of sand with their clothes and went at it. The four young

Governors observed this with some interest, and more than a bit of carefully-veiled disgust.

“I know for certain that I’ll think that’s a lot of fun in a few years.” Reggie privately commented to his

companions. “But right now, that’s hard to believe. I never expected that sex could be so… slimy.”

“Or so smelly, for that matter.” Valentia added.

“Is my humanoid Translation spell failing me, or are their facial expressions completely ridiculous

looking?” Karzog wondered.

“The spell isn’t failing you.” Helemia reported. “Though I find the slappy, squishy sounds to be the most

ridiculous part about it. I’m with Six. I can’t believe I’m ever going to think that’s fun.”

“Most of them don’t look like they’re having fun, or sound like it either.” Karzog pointed out. “It seems

more like they’re intent on hurting each other. And succeeding.”

“Grown-ups are weird.” Valentia concluded. “Even grown-ups as immature as these ones.”

Midnight came and went, then half-past. Most of the young Sylvan were still engaged in the activity,

many after switching partners, sometimes more than once.

“Almost all of you are past curfew, and you should all be cleaned up and ready for sleep now.” Karzog

announced. “Since this is our first night together and therefore a somewhat special occasion, we’ll let it

go this once. But all of you who’re still having sex had better take note; You’d better start doing it earlier

tomorrow night and be finished at midnight, because we’ll be drenching any stragglers with cold water.”

But it seemed like the Sylvan were unwilling to stop once they’d gotten started. Their Governors got

sick of listening to them about four hours after midnight, and did indeed drench every continuing

fornicator with cold water. They used fresh water from the streams rather than sea water, figuring that it

would at least clean the Sylvan somewhat, and they moved the water by Translocation so there would

be no warning. They laughed to themselves with quiet satisfaction at the chorus of surprised and

distressed squeals, cries, and yells that erupted from all over the beach.

“If we have to do that again in one minute, we’ll make the water ice-cold next time!” Helemia warned.

“Now we’ll dry you off and you WILL go to sleep!”

As things turned out, they learned that the young Sylvan loved to push the limits of authority, and were

quite stubborn besides. The mass midnight drenching became a regular nightly event for weeks. Some

fornicators would try to surreptitiously continue after the drenching, so the water was made colder for a

few nights in a row, until it was found to be completely effective at about eight degrees above freezing.

To the surprise of the four governors, all the young Sylvan awoke within a few minutes of each other at

dawn, which was about eight hours after midnight, and they seemed alert and chipper enough. They

were to learn that the Sylvan were all used to doing with very little sleep, since sleeping had always left

them very vulnerable to attack. Thereafter, since the Sylvan were forced to sleep shortly after midnight,

the next day would begin about four hours later when they all woke up.

On the second day they got the Sylvan fed, then set them to continuing the work on their settlement’s

construction under Karzog’s supervision, and Valentia went home to sleep.

The twins went out to catch more young Sylvan. In over an hour they only caught two, a thirteen-year-

old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl. They wouldn’t have found those two without the assistance of Stripe

and Scout’s finely sensitive noses, as the two Sylvan were well-hidden and were maintaining silence

and immobility. Only their scents had given them away.

Suddenly the twins were struck by an attack of combined Lightning and Concussion that was so huge

that only their automated defenses saved their lives. Their automatic counter-attacks could find nothing

to aim at, and they Translocated away with the two animals in a fraction of a second, rather than risk

that their Shields would be overloaded.

“Crap that was close!” Helemia cursed as they went to work.

“Too close.” Reggie grimly agreed. “And way too big an attack for the resistance we expected. Either

most of the remaining wild Sylvan are working together on this, or some of their adults are helping

them, or both.”

When the attack had occurred, Stripe and Scout had both been a fair distance away from the twins,

who had been the target of the strike. But the two animals had been protected by less Shielding, and

there had been so much energy released that they’d been caught in it and injured by it. The twins had

to clamp down on their anger with all their discipline and do some very quick and careful Healing to

save their beloved pets’ lives and return them to health.

A moment later they gained control of most of Karzog and Valentia’s power with draw spells, then

seized control of most of their captive Sylvan’s power with pull spells. They Sent the animals home as

they Translocated to a position a kilometer above and a half kilometer south of where they’d been

attacked, and cast Simulacrums of themselves and Stripe on the ground beneath them. They equipped

the Simulacrums with Shielding, and set them to creeping through the woods. They floated there with Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.

no protections for themselves except the Unseen spell, minimizing their power output to avoid

detection, and psionicly ‘listened’ with every iota of their Linked concentration.

Sure enough, a minute later their Simulacrums were blasted by a similar attack.

“I think we found most of them that time.” Helemia commented as they let the Simulacrums end. “But

we should do it again to make sure. None of them are moving anyway.”

“Right.” Reggie acknowledged as he Translocated them a half kilometer west and re-cast the

Simulacrums. He then cast a wide spell to help find their opponents by their body heat, and another to

detect the vibration of their motion through the ground, then rejoined his sister in ‘listening’.

Again their Simulacrums were attacked by massed Lightning and Concussion spells.

“Hah! Found ‘em all that time!” Helemia psionicly cried in triumph.

“And there’s a lot of ‘em!” Reggie noted. “More than we planned on dealing with all at once. We’ll have

to borrow some power for this.”

He Linked with their parents in case their adults didn’t happen to be following their exploits at the

moment. “May we use some of your power? We’ve got a bit of a situation here. We might even need

some of Povon and Kragorram’s”

“Sure Son.” came Mark’s chuckling reply, then they felt the draw spell take effect through the Link.

They cast Sleep on all their targets at once with about a fifth of the power they controlled, then used

most of the rest to cast one of the biggest and most complex mass Translocations ever done on

Kellaran. Sylvan in hiding places, dens, and homes all over northern Hiliani were Translocated to the

beach at the new colony and deposited on the sand in neat rows just to the south-west of the existing

constructions.