Our helmets were much the same coming up from the collars. His had a full-face shield that slid down from the top like a fighter pilot’s helmet. I added my runes to everything improving them where I could.
Our weapons were much the same quality, but I liked mine better. I’d store his. “Where is the weapons storage?” A light blinked on the wall over a sideboard. I went over and opened the top drawer. There was room, so I lay his weapons in there.
I opened the next drawer and found a prize. There lay a set of runed Mithril daggers. They were pulsing with magic. “Dude, why didn’t you use these?” I picked them up and fell in love with them. They danced in my hands. They were almost the length of my forearm. I took mine out of my arms and put them in the drawer. I practiced with the new ones, they folded into my arms like the others had. I left them in my arms, they were my new conceal carry daggers.
I went into my bedroom, “two armor stands.” Two armor stands appeared along the wall. I hung the two sets of armor up on the stands.
The last item was his cloak. I read its runes. It would change colors like a chamaeleon, among other things. The cloak itself was armored, and would conceal, and mask. It also had inside pockets one on each side in the front and one in the back. All three had groundsheets.
The groundsheet from the front left pocket was his sleeping and personal gear and was a 6×8 sheet. The right pocket sheet was a field office. It had a small desk, chair and tent and was a 12×12 sheet. The back pocket held a 15×15 sheet and had chests of gold, jewels, gems and other supplies. He carried his fortune with him everywhere. Or did he? I folded all the sheets back up and put them back into my new cloak’s pockets.
“Seal the front door.” Red light showed over the front door. “Are there any other doors?” A green light shown from the bedroom. I went in there and moved the curtain aside. There was a second curtain which I moved aside. This door connected this pocket dimension to the one inside the coach. I now could go to the bathroom without going outside. Nice.
“Seal the front door to the coach.” Red showed over the door curtain. I went back in the lower, not in the coach, pavilion. “Where is the gold vault?” A green light came on in the main room wall. I moved the curtain and inside was a vault with a few chests in it. I went back up into the coach room. “Where is the gold vault?” A green light showed on a wall which I opened. It also held a few gold chests. “So, you didn’t put all your eggs in one basket. Seal vault doors.” The lights over the doors turned red, then went out.
“Unseal this room's front door, and seal the side connecting door. The red light came on the went out. “Warn me when anyone is coming to the pavilion. If I’m asleep, wake me if anyone or anything enters either of the pavilions, not counting the dog, Armor. A green light flashed across the ceiling.
That was about all I could think of to do tonight, so I went to bed.
I WOKE AT MY NORMAL time and got up. I needed to exercise I started to go outside but stopped. “I need an exercise area 15×15 put it over here on this wall.” The pavilion wall slid away from me giving the area I asked for. “Raise the ceiling in this area to 12 feet.” The ceiling raised.
I began exercising in my new exercise area. The floor was solid, and the area had plenty of ventilation from somewhere. Why rough-it when you can travel in style. I practiced with my new Mithril daggers. They were a dream to handle. They also interlocked with my staff.
I finished my work-out and was getting cleaned up, when a mellow male voice said, “Princess Regina approaches.’’ It scared the crap out of me.
I took a deep breath and chuckled. “Thank you, allow her entrance.”
“Allowed.”
I would have to rethink how I interacted with my house. Which was a crazy thought. But not so crazy anymore.
I knew when Reggie entered, “Aaron, may I come in?”
“Come on in, I’ll be out in a minute. Have you eaten?”
“No, have you?”
“Not yet,” I said as I came out of my bedroom. I looked toward the table, it was set for two, with hot tea already waiting.
“Some hot tea to start?” I said pulling out her chair. Armor watched her as she walked by. She ignored him.
“Yes, thank you.” She said sitting down.
I poured our tea, “two breakfasts please.” Two breakfasts appeared at our places.
“Thank you,” and she started eating. I did as well. As she ate, she looked around. “Nice place you have.”
“It beats sleeping on the ground.”
“The Royal pavilion is much like this, minus the food serving table.”
“It helps when you can’t cook.” She nodded smiling. We finished eating, and I poured us more tea.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I shouldn’t have done that. I was scared. When you came back, perfectly fine with a wagon train of spoils. It made me mad. I don’t know why. Anyway, I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry I worried you, I’ll try not to do it again. It was not something I planned, it just happened. On the upside I increased my wealth.”
“And you are spending most of it this morning, according to father.”
“More of an investment, really. We are, more than likely going to fight again. I’m investing in our survival. I can always make more money. Unless I’m dead, that would make it a little harder.”
She laughed, “I can see that.” She turned serious, “you really believe we will have to fight again?”
“I do, they have invested several fortunes to kill me and failed. They have too much invested to stop. And I believe this is all part of a larger plan. I think this is about an invasion and taking over at least three Kingdoms, maybe four. They have to kill me.”
“Why you specifically?”
“I believe it because I’m marrying you. I think part of their plan is for someone to marry you to make the takeover look legitimate to avoid an all-out war with your people.”
She chewed on that thought for a while. “Who?”
“That part, I don’t know. Who’s the most powerful of the surrounding kingdoms?”
“Your father’s.”
“Who is next?”
“They are about the same.”
“From overseas then.”
“That could be a long list.”
“We have to have more information. But back to the main question, yes, we will be attacked. They have been ahead of us at every attack. They’ve had all the information, and advantage. We need to change the game and take away their advantage.”
“How do we do that?”
“They know where we are coming from and going to. They’ll be waiting along that route we either change the route or change the time. But first things first. Let’s get you into some better armor.” I took her by her hand and led her onto my bedroom. “Take your armor off and put that armor on.” I pointed to my old armor.
She started changing; I left the room. I took the crystal holding the standard groundsheets out of my pouch. I lay it on the floor of my exercise area and opened it. Reggie would get a new issue of field gear, as would the King and Queen if they wanted one, I would offer.
I opened one groundsheet and checked the inventory. The standard seemed to be a sleeping mat with blankets, three days war rations with water, a runed sword, shield bracelets, and a runed cloak. The cloak having a back pocket to carry the ground sheet.
“Aaron, I need some help.”
I went back into the bedroom. My armor had swallowed her. She had the breastplate on and was holding up the skirting. I smiled. I fixed the thought in my mind and touched the breastplate. I shrank to fit her; I did the same to the skirting. We got the bracers, and greaves on and fitted to her as well. I made sure the helmet worked and fit well, before I was satisfied.
“How does it feel?”
“Light, hardly any weight at all.”
I nodded, “good, I added runes for that. Ok, next equipment issue. You may never need it, but better to have and not need, t
han to need and not have.”
I showed her the groundsheet and how it worked. She had her own sword, and shield bracelets so did not need the issue those, “leave them in there. It won’t change the weight, and you never know.” She nodded. We folded the groundsheet and put it in the cloak’s pocket. She put the cloak on, and it shrank to fit her. I took my extra bag of holding out and strapped it on her. I had emptied it; she’d have to fill it.
I stepped over to the weapons sideboard and took out my old daggers. “These are yours now.” She took them and looked them over.
“Nice.”
I flipped one of mine out and showed her how to hide them in her arms. We practiced a few times until she had the gist of it. “We’ll practice more later. Let’s go get the troops equipment issued.”
We went outside, Captain Motts, Oaks, and Moss were there by the wagons. We walked over to them. They bowed, “Princess.”
She nodded, “Good morning Captain, Troopers.’’
I took out the crystal with the spear-lance ground sheet and opened it, then opened the ground sheet. I picked one up and extended the spear to a lance. “We’ll be issuing these as well, Captain.” I tossed it to him. He caught it and worked with it at both lengths for a bit. He was smiling.
“Yes, we’ll start training with these as soon as we issue them.”
“Do we have any archers; I don’t remember seeing any.”
“Ten, they are on the scout teams.”
“I have new archery equipment for them.”
“I’ll start the men through if you are ready.’’
I nodded, “let’s get you issued first.”
THE MEN CAME THROUGH in groups of five. I would toss down a crystal and open it, as it was opening, I removed all coins, and jewels from the kits. Everyone got the standard ground sheet kit and a spear-lance. The archers got the archery equipment, which they sorely needed, in addition to the standard issue groundsheet.
As each group got their issue, they would come to attention, fist over their heart saluting me in the supposed old roman style. I returned their salute. Word had apparently gotten around, probably by Oaks and Moss, that I was financing the new equipment issue. This was no small thing for these men. To be outfitted was one thing, to be outfitted with magical equipment and weapons was unheard of. True to his word, the Captain had the men practicing with their new weapons.
The spear-lances that were left we put in the common equipment wagon. I took the large ground sheet and the standard ground sheet with me to see Cookie. Cookie saw me approaching, wiping his hands on his apron he came out to meet me.
“Captain?”
“Cookie, I know you and your men were busy, so I brought your equipment issue down to you.” He got a confused look on his face.
“Captain, we don’t get issued like the troopers do, we’re just cooks.”
“Cooks you may be, but if the enemy breaks through and the throat cutting starts, I believe you’d do your share of it.” He nodded. “Everyone in this company is a trooper. Some are scouts, archers, cavalry, and some are cooks.”
“So, you are not just cooks. You and your squad will get the same issue, less the spear-lance that every other trooper gets. In addition, you will get a large groundsheet of holding for extra supplies and you will take charge of the captured ration supply wagon.”
He stood straighter, “Yes Captain.”
I showed him how the large groundsheet worked, then issued him and his squad the standard trooper kit. This must have been the first time anyone had treated them like soldiers. I suspected change was coming to the mess area.
I turned to find Reggie watching me. “What?”
“Nothing.” she said smiling.
I froze. I’m sure my eyes glazed over. I had an epiphany about the spear-lances.
“What’s wrong?” She asked coming to me.
“I just had an epiphany.”
“A what?”
“A vision, an idea. I need to look at a spear-lance.”
We went to the weapons wagon and got a spear-lance. I read all the runes. What I was looking for was not there. I smiled. “Boys, you left money on the table.” Reggie frowned at me. “I need to make and addition to these.” I put them all in a crystal and headed for my pavilion. Reggie followed.
I TOOK MY SCRIBING tool fixing what I wanted in my mind I wrote some additional runes along the shaft of the spear-lance.’’ Ok, let’s go test my addition." We went outside. “Oaks.”
“Captain?”
“Bring your spear-lance over here.” He came over with his spear-lance.
I want you to stab me with the butt of your weapon. I will hold my spear-lance like I’m about to thrust, but I’m not going to move. My shield should stop your attack. He nodded. We took our stance. I nodded. He thrust. Once the butt of his weapon got past my spear-lance point, its shield flared and stopped the attack.
“Oh, yeah.” I said.
“I didn’t see any of the others doing that during training. How do you do it?” Oaks asked
“I just adjusted this one, I’ll have to do them all before they have shields.”
I turned the spear-lance tip down and stuck it in the ground. I stood on one side, Oaks on the other. “Attack,” He did. The shield that flared this time was three feet wide and five feet tall.
I nodded. “Perfect.”
“You can do that to all of ours?”
“Yes, but it will take me a while to do them all. Trade me.” He gave me his and took mine. I’ll start working on the ones I have, then we’ll trade them out. After the first ten, it only took me about five minutes to make the additions. I kept working, while Reggie traded the new ones for the old ones.
“This is the last one.” Reggie said as she handed it to me. I nodded taking it. It was something like four AM when I finished. I lay my head on the table and went to sleep.
“MOTHER, NO!” I STOOD up, wide awake, shields up, daggers out. The Queen was well away from me. Hands up in front of her, holding a blanket.
“Aaron!” Reggie called. I looked at her. “It’s ok, we’re safe. Mother was about to cover you with a blanket. She didn’t know.” She looked at the Queen, “He reacts violently when touched while he is sleeping.”
I dropped my shields, and my daggers folded away. I bowed, “I’m sorry M’lady.”
“No dear, I’m sorry, this is your house. I know now to call to you before touching you.” she said smiling.
“Thank you, M’lady, that would be wise,” I said smiling. “Is it time to move?”
“No, the King has decided to stay here another day. The camp was up most of the night with you. While you made improvements on the spear-lances, the men practiced. We all need a day of rest.”
“You’ll get no argument from me. Have you eaten?”
“We have not,” Reggie said.
I looked down at the table, “breakfast for three, please.” Three breakfast meals appeared on the table with hot tea. “Ladies breakfast is served.”
They sat down and we started eating. “We have got to get one of these for our pavilion.” The Queen Said. Reggie nodded.
I wondered why “the house” had not wakened me when the Queen come in. “Have you been here all night?”
They nodded, “we kept the spear-lances coming while you worked. By the way, that was an ingenious addition you made.”
“Thank you.” That answered that question, they were here all the time. I ate the rest of my meal in silence, half asleep.
Once we had finished, “I’m going to get some sleep.” Reggie said, the Queen nodded.
“I think that is a great idea.” Once they were gone, “seal the doors.” The red light came on over the door, I went to my bedroom. Someone had slept in my bed. I didn’t care, I crashed in. That someone smelled like Reggie. “I bet she did that on purpose,” was the last thought I had before sleep took me.
Chapter 10
I woke around mid-day, I exercised, cleaned up, and had lunch.
I had fixed everyone else’s armor and weapons; it was now time to check mine. I brought my new armor out. I left it on the stand, so I could see it. I read the runes on all the pieces. It seemed, what was for these people, a standard setup.
There was the material of the armor itself, then the runes, warding, and the shields. I walked around the stand looking at the armor for weakness. I already knew about the crotch weakness and would upgrade that. What was basically battery life, was short, and the re-charge rate slow. I’d upgrade that.
I needed some materials to do the upgrades. Gold I had, better steel, or mithril would be best. I had none of that, so I’d use the steel I had available. I needed sunstone quartz for the battery life and recharge. I wonder, "are there any unused sunstones in the vaults, or anywhere else in the pavilion?"
“There are not.”
I took, what I now thought of as my vault groundsheet, out of my cloak and opened it. I opened each chest and lay my hand on top of the contents. I then knew what was in the chest without having to look through everything in it. I found a small bag of sunstones, there was enough there to do my upgrades. I’d add more later if I needed to.
I divided my chests into thirds. I teleported one third of the chests to the coach vault, another third into the pavilions vault, the last third remained on the vault groundsheet. I folded the vault groundsheet up and put it back in the cloak’s back pocket.
I sat down at the table, “Hot tea please.” It appeared on the table. Armor came and lay down beside my chair. “Steak, medium-rare.” It appeared. I sat the plate down for Armor. It didn’t set there long. I took out my notebook, and read what was there about runed, warded, and enchanted armor. I made some notes and plans for what I wanted. Once I had everything planned out, I started.
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