Vivid Dream Reality 3

by Savannah Maun

  Not that I didn't trust Tia. I was sure she would make the right choices, but they would cost her emotionally. I couldn't help but still think of her as a child. In human terms, she was just about an adult. We tended to think you needed six or seven decades of life before full maturity. There was no question that Lagbit had chosen her though and with that, she had my full support along with all the elves.

  Once the first team of elves had arrived in New York we had a conference to work out a plan. Two elves were dispatched to Florida and another two to Canada to pick up the trail that Andi had followed and observe. We hired cars and organised a stakeout for the three New York houses so that if Andi noticed them moving again, we had someone to follow them. Mainly we were going to wait for our reinforcements to arrive while trying to make sure we didn't lose any more leads. In particular, I knew the power of a fire druid, so when Wendy was there with another druid we would have all we would need.

  I was watching Tia signing our new treaty when Andi informed me that our attacking force was gathered near the first of the three locations in New York. We went ahead with our original plan. Andi was going to prevent all communication leaving the premises, Berry was going to block all sound and Wendy was going to prevent any firearms from firing while the rest would enter and subdue any men. They all wore masks to keep anonymity.

  I asked that they keep everyone alive. I'm glad I said that and even with my command it was a near thing. The thugs were caught unprepared, but most had at least a gun on them. Apparently, the surprise of finding that their weapons didn't work gave enough hesitation to allow our experienced guards to subdue almost all of them. One pulled a knife, but his weapons training was very poor by our standards. Cari was not there, but there were nearly twenty young women being used as prostitutes. Our investigators were able to use the truth spell and found three other houses, one of which we didn't know about.

  Now we had a problem that we had not thought of. We needed to get to the next house as quickly as possible. It wasn't likely they communicated frequently, but if they were forewarned they would escape and probably kill some of their victims. Before we could do that we needed to work out what to do with nineteen young women, who were traumatised, abused and drug dependent. And what to do with the seven men.

  Andi managed to find an abandoned warehouse and managed to contact ten New York applicants and requested their help. We had to pack the three vehicles with everyone and that meant we had to supply three drivers so we had three fewer elves to go to the next house. Our numbers were a lot less than ideal so I explained why I wanted them captured alive. I wanted bodies that we could use to transfer more druids from Lagbit's World to Earth. But not at the expense of anybody's life. So my new orders were, keep them alive if you can.

  The second house went down as easily as the first which gave us five more men, one with a broken arm and two unconscious, but all alive. Eleven girls kept in slightly better conditions. All were transferred to the warehouse where several of the human helpers had arrived with camping gear that they were setting up. Three of them took over the driving so we had our numbers back up again. No Cari though.

  The third house presented an issue because there were some girls performing in front of cameras that were streaming live online. Andi cut the link, but now we had to hurry to finish and get to the fourth house that we had found from interrogating the guards. The fourth house received some kind of warning before Andi cut them off and were in a heightened state of alert. I don't think they knew what was happening. I didn't want to risk any Elf lives so we went with plan B for that house. Berry created an air barrier over the house and Wendy burned the roof off, consuming the oxygen in the contained area without burning anybody. Once Andi informed us that they had dropped unconscious Berry released the dome and flushed air through while Wendy put out the fire. By the time the firemen arrived, the house was empty and the fire was out. No Cari.

  I sent Berry with a guard to use the hand glider and reinforce the two guards in Canada, only to attack if they were confident. Two guards stayed with the New York applicants, to help look after the girls and keep the prisoners in line at the warehouse. Wendy and the rest of the guards flew to Florida.

  The druids were so effective on this world. I think part of that is that no one else has any magic on Earth and we had been keeping our abilities secret. Even if someone suspected, the attitude here was that it didn't exist unless it could be proven. Add in the fact that all information is distributed through electronic devices, which Andi controls, and we should be able to keep the secret a bit longer.

  By this stage, Tia had finished her Tea party at Buckingham Palace, managed to transform the Queen and was back in her hotel so I could give her a rundown and my thoughts about the guards we had captured. Andi had managed to find an applicant who was a pharmacist who was now caring for the girls in New York, supplying them with something that was going to prevent them from going into withdrawal, but those types of drugs are carefully monitored. Andi was able to help hide her tracks electronically, but physical evidence would arouse suspicion within a few days.

  Tia told me she would travel to New York incognito, but asked me to keep control of the operation in Toronto and Florida. That night Berry decided to attack when she heard some screaming. She flew onto the roof and then used her air familiar to locate the prostitute guards, guessing that those moving around would be the men guarding the women. She suffocated them until they were unconscious. When there were none left standing the elves entered unopposed. It is a fine art, stopping someone from breathing without killing them. Berry did pretty well. Of the seven men she attacked only one died, although one stayed a bit dopey, so might have been a bit brain damaged. This time we knew what to expect so Andi had already found an abandoned house and organised some help from those who wanted to join the Elven Nation. Cari wasn't one of those rescued.

  If Cari wasn't in Florida then she was out at sea. With all of our other actions, if the people in Florida didn't know we were gunning for them, then they were going to know soon. I gave permission to engage as soon as they were in place and thought they could do so with minimal risk. While Tia was still en route to New York, Wendy arrived in Florida. Andi guided them to the two elves who were staking out the house in Miami. They waited until dark and then attacked. The enemy expecting their firearms to work caused enough hesitation that was again decisive. This time, since they were short on numbers, Wendy's familiar, Spitfire, transferred the heat to the gun magazines causing explosions. There was no one to eliminate the sounds, so I authorised the death penalty on those holding the girls captive. As quickly as possible the girls were gathered up and in a van heading back to New York. Then I had the unenviable task of telling Tia, Cari was out at sea, destination unknown.

  Chapter 12

  Tia's POV

  It was interesting to visit 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. I suppose it would be like an American visiting the White House. Their significance was more in the mind than reality. I live in a palace seven out of every eight days, so although I appreciated the grandeur, I was not overwhelmed by it.

  Downing Street was really just a house. Important people for the country have lived there and would live there, but it was a relatively ordinary house. I was only in long enough to meet the Prime Minister (PM) and look through the treaty. Andi checked that it had not been altered from what Mia had agreed to. To make sure they didn't try any tricks Mia had mentioned that I had a photographic memory so I would know immediately. Through Andi, it was even true.

  We moved outside the front door for the actual signing, to a prepared table and a mass of reporters waiting for the perfect photograph and hoping to ask questions. We both signed to a deluge of flashes and then the PM made a speech thanking us and the people who had voted for him for making this happen and how it was going to be good for the country. Not so subtly patting himself on the back while disparaging his political opponents.

  Some of the opposition had said th
at they would nullify the treaty when they were voted in at the next election, so my speech was a combination of thanking the PM and the people of Britain and implying that we would resist any attempts to reclaim the land. I am glad I wasn't the one to write the speech, as I would have been way more blunt, which may not have gone down so well.

  Then we were off to visit the Queen. There was a lot of pomp and ceremony, but once the Tea party began, most of the formality dropped away and I was able to have pleasant conversations with a wide range of people who had managed to get an invite. You didn't speak to the Queen until she invited you to do so and I think she wanted most of our conversation to be private. She waited until the time was almost over before I was given the nod and we only spoke briefly before I was ushered for a private meeting. Vee was by my side for all of it and I drew strength from her presence.

  The Queen gave a little speech as to why she wanted the transformation. I was correct in assuming, unlike all our normal applicants, that she hadn't read through our website so there was a lot of explaining to do. She didn't like the idea that she had to swear an oath, but it wasn't religious so when she realised that I couldn't change my mind since it was part of the storyline that allowed any of it to happen, she gave way with grace.

  Rather than giving her the birds and bees talk I suggested that she read the website as it would answer so many questions and just made sure she realised that if she wasn't committed to making it work, it could fail. The servants brought out the headsets and we spent a day in Lagbit's World. I had pre-warned Myra about who was coming, so we made sure to treat her as a head of state and even invited her to join us for dinner after her transformation. By then she was looking very different. It did change the atmosphere from informal loving to formal and diplomatic, so I was glad it was only going to be one day. The good news was that there was no extra strain that I could notice, considering we were violating the normal twenty-two-hour lockout. So it was possible that I could enter Lagbit's World for multiple two hour/ one-week sessions for each Earth day.

  Once that was over we retired to our hotel and I could finally convince Andi to give me an update on the New York situation. It was clear that I needed to get out there and sort it out myself, the only question was how to get there. I could go to an airport and book a ticket, but then I would be monitored and most of what I needed to do, I wanted to do without an audience. I suspect that the US would be unhappy with our actions and not going through official channels.

  Inda sent me a telepathic prod as I was trying to work out how to get there without anyone knowing. She asked why we couldn't just fly there on our hand gliders. It was further than we had ever flown before and Andi and I explained the distance but she couldn't see a problem. Dani then told us that we could rest on the Ocean if we wanted. She could build an ice platform or even an ice boat if we needed a rest.

  I had planned to disappear again while Mia set up the Isle of Wight, so this fitted in with those plans and I now had more than enough people in New York who might want to be transformed. My best way to stay safe was still to be hidden.

  Although I was tentatively considered the Elf Queen on Earth, I didn't usually make my decisions unilaterally, so I explained what my familiars had told me and we went through the arguments that I expected. Their main worry was about my safety. They weren't sure that their familiars could carry them so far and there was no question of me going alone or just with Vee, so I explained about Dani producing a resting platform if we got tired. The Lagbit Worlders were not very knowledgeable about ice and icebergs, but it was easy to use the internet to show them and then explain about buoyancy relating to ice and trapped air and how ships made from steel could float.

  No one came up with a better suggestion so we gathered all our supplies and headed to the roof. Andi switched off the appropriate cameras and we vanished from the hotel into the night air.

  I had wondered where the energy for the familiars came from. If one druid was stronger than another was it because the familiar was stronger or the person the familiar had bonded to? The accepted belief was a combination of the two. A familiar was a being from a different plane and they varied in strength. For a familiar to affect our world it needed us to open a gateway and keep that gateway open, which required energy that we had to supply. Since the familiar had set up home within us, the gateway was between ourselves and the world around us. In order to bond with a druid in the first place the elemental needed to be strong enough to connect to our world from theirs. That exhausted them, so they took a while to recover and be able to interact with us. One measure of how strong they were was how quickly they recovered.

  It was also why three was the maximum number of familiars that you could achieve. In a battle all three familiars would be active. The theory was that the familiars were intelligent, as evidenced by our communication with them, so they refused to bond with anyone who did not have the energy. Since holding three familiars active was very tiring, it was thought that four would be harmful. Which was why I had not done another druid ceremony after I had managed to properly communicate with Dani. I didn't notice any energy drain when my familiars were active, which was unusual, but no one had achieved more than three, so another ceremony had not been suggested.

  Druids did not rank themselves as a rule, but there was seniority and strength. Leaf was the strongest druid, not because she had three familiars, but because of her strength of being able to have them all active for a prolonged period of time and because her familiars were considered strong. The first was measured by how long she could hold them all active and the second by what they were able to do. I had never been tested because I was outside their structure as both a priestess and either a Princess in Lagbit's World or a Queen in this one. However, when my familiars told me what they were able to do, it was not questioned.

  Druids were powerful, but I realised that I was seeing an artificial strength as only the strongest druids had come through with me. Leaf had tested Vienne and she was considered above average, which still meant she was the weakest link. We needed to travel 3,460 miles approximately and most of that was across water. We had never done more than a few hundred miles and that at a leisurely pace. This was going to be a real test. Andi had done some research on aerodynamics and Inda was going to use that knowledge to help our flight. Leaf was going to keep a close eye on Vienne and tell me when we needed to break.

  This flight was completely different from our previous efforts. We didn't use thermals or float through the air. Inda created our own current. I didn't completely understand her explanation, but it was a combination of removing air from in front of us and pushing us from behind. She also did something to prevent turbulence which made us faster and quieter. I didn't think we would be able to measure our speed and would just get there when we got there. Andi was able to use GPS and time to work out our speed quite easily. We reached speeds of between three and four hundred miles an hour. Inda told me that we would need to redesign our hand gliders if we wanted to do this more frequently as their shape was not designed for these speeds and she had to work harder with the air around them. It would have been easier to do this without them altogether, but then it would have been harder to co-ordinate with the other familiars. She was also helping the others and noticed before Leaf when Vienne started to tire.

  We descended to the ocean surface in a gently descending spiral, giving Dani time to create an Iceboat. She used the research that Andi was able to do to recreate a simple catamaran. Once we had landed Dani stuck the hand gliders together to form a makeshift sail and Inda carried on moving us towards New York while we all rested. The speed was negligible compared with flight, but it helped stabilise the boat. Leaf checked that I was not getting tired and we organised a rota. Leaf and Branch both had Wind and Water familiars so we took turns resting and continuing our journey.

  After a four-hour rest Vienne was sufficiently recovered so we went back into the air and the journey continued. We had to have one more rest.
This time we waited until it was near dark so we could arrive in New York undetected and not too tired.

  Chapter 13

  Andi guided us to the warehouse. By this point all the druids were exhausted, apart from me, so I made a mental note to speak to Leaf in Lagbit's World. I didn't even feel like I had put in any effort at all.

  The majority of our security forces were on their way back from Florida, but only Leaf, Branch and Vienne needed rest from my party. Lacy took charge, first making sure there were no threats and then organising everyone into groups. The criminals that needed interrogating, the human helpers that wanted to be transformed and the girls who needed help physically and mentally.

  Mia had been keeping abreast of events during our travelling and informed me of our situation. Cari was obviously in the one vehicle whose victims had been sent out to sea. Andi had managed to deduce which boat had taken them, but it had returned later without most of its passengers. There had been no satellites in the right place to be able to give an overview and the ocean is so large that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

  To find out where Cari had gone we were going to need to do it the hard way. Now that Killash was available we were able to do a proper investigation. The truth spell worked well, but if you decided not to say anything then it wasn't triggered and it didn't take long for the criminals to wise up and shut up. Killash had spells that caused pain if you refused to answer questions that increased the longer you withheld the information. You could consider it torture and I was pretty sure it would be against basic human rights, but I justified it to myself by saying that if they told the truth they wouldn't be in any pain.

  Lacy asked me to let her take care of it. She did give me a rough outline of what she was going to do, which was to search for the answers or for the people who would have the answers, bring them here surreptitiously and interrogate them to get the answers or others who might know the answers. She believed that she would be able to unravel it all, although it might take a few days.