Just outside the walls was a Lowe’s, the massive building supply store, with a couple of other large department stores next to it. In between the stores and the plateau walls was a large parking area, sufficient for several hundred cars. And farther north, behind the big box stores, was a wide, open field, followed by a neighborhood of single family homes on large lots. Plenty of green space for the livestock to graze. There were even a few shallow creeks for them to drink from.
Opening his Citadel interface, the first thing he did was check his System Points. With more than a hundred thousand available, he could afford to do some upgrades. The first thing he did was create a massive open cavern underneath the Citadel. He constructed two exits – one with a ramp leading up to an opening inside the walls at one of the grassy areas that used to be the mall parking lot. For the second exit he made a wide tunnel that led directly north to the Lowe’s parking lot.
Calling together Helen, Fuzzy, and a small force of guards to accompany him, he descended the ramp into the cavern. Using his interface as they walked, he added some scattered lights to the ceilings, and a water source that fed into a long trough, which Fuzzy immediately slurped some water from. Walking out the northern exit at ground level, he stopped to add a massive metal gate, three feet thick with one-foot reinforced steel lock bolts. The high walls and massive gates up top would do him no good if an enemy could just sneak in through this new tunnel.
Proceeding across the parking area, Allistor and his group entered the open doors of the Lowe’s. Weapons ready, they surveyed the massive space with its rows of twenty-foot high shelves. Rather than potentially waste time clearing it, he immediately tried to claim it. A broad grin appeared on his face when a message popped up.
Do you wish to annex this facility into the adjacent Citadel? Yes/No
He immediately selected Yes and waited as the familiar golden glow surrounded them all. When the blank template appeared, he made no changes to the place other than to remove all the shelving and inventory, transferring them to the Citadel’s existing storage. He did add power, and extended the sensor system outward far enough to include the green area to the north. Lastly, he added a half dozen bunkhouse rooms toward the back, as well as some horse stalls and a tack room, two bathrooms, and a kitchen.
They proceeded out the back of the store, which had massive roll-up loading dock doors plenty wide enough for the cattle to pass through. Walking out into the field, he claimed that as well. His best guess when he’d been looking down at it from the tower was that it was about a square mile, or close to 650 acres.
Pulling up his interface again, he searched for a way to enclose the space. It was bordered on all sides by roads, except where it butted up against the plateau. His first choice was a fence, but the system didn’t have an option for barbed wire. And no way was he going to have enough points or klax to extend a wall a full three miles plus to encompass the whole area. Looking to Helen, he said, “I guess Bob and his guys could help the cowboys fence this in, eventually. Until then, they’ll have to herd the cows into our new barn at night, and watch them during the day.”
One of the guards with them, a man Allistor thought was named James, replied. “We’ll help. There’s plenty of hands to do the work. Having the meat is important to all of us.”
Another said, “You probably just put a mile of barbed wire into inventory from the store behind us. We can make a run to the farm supply place and get more. Or if we have to, we’ll steal some from other fields. We’ll figure it out.”
Allistor was encouraged by everyone’s willingness to help. Even if it was based on mutual love of steak, and not purely on charitable thoughts. Turning to Helen, he asked, “Is this enough grass for the herd we have?”
She shook her head, looking thoughtful. “I’m not sure? Probably? But, if necessary, we can always move them to other spots. The airport is just across the street, and there’s plenty of open space with grass there. The cowboys will know better.” She looked around for a minute. “I do suggest we plant some shade trees here and there. It won’t hurt the grass much, but cows appreciate shade, and if they’re tall enough and scattered well enough, they might discourage dragons from swooping in to steal a meal.”
James smacked a hand on his leg. “We could make the whole thing a dragon trap. Set up some poles and run razor wire across the open spaces. Dragon comes down, it’ll slice off a wing or maybe their head if we’re lucky.”
Allistor liked that idea immensely. “James, you are now officially in charge of dragon traps!” He clapped the grinning man on the back. “Let me know if you need something we don’t have.” He turned and led the group back through the tunnel and up the ramp to where the cowboys were managing the herd. Helen waved one of them over, and they updated him.
“Hell yes! That’ll work out real well, Allistor. Er, Lord?” the man asked.
“Just Allistor, please. And you’re… Jason, right? Austin’s dad?”
“Yep! That’s me. I suppose we haven’t been formally introduced. Austin has talked about you plenty. I want to thank you for all you’ve done for him. And for all of us.” He reached down from atop his horse and offered his hand, which Allistor shook.
“My pleasure. Do you think you guys can handle the fencing?”
“Ha! This is the big country out here. Three miles of fence is nothin’! We’ll have it done soon enough. I’ll head the herd down there now, if you’ll excuse me?”
Allistor held up a hand. “Are any of the cowboys here more experienced than you?”
Jason thought for a moment. “Old Jerry. Not what you’d call a cowboy, but he had a corn and soybean farm for something like forty years, and I think his neighbors had cattle, which is where he picked up the Animal Husbandry skill. He took over wrangling them when the neighbors got killed by the canid things in the early days.”
“Alright, I’ll leave it up to you. I need a… boss. What do you call them? Ramrod? Foreman? Head honcho?”
Jason laughed, “Foreman is fine. I’ll ask Jerry if he wants the job, but I don’t think he will. He retired once, and I think he just likes being able to poke around with us a bit.”
“Great. I’m going to add both of you to my advisory council. Bob and Virginia are already there, so we might as well keep it in the family. And Jerry can advise us on farming operations when we start cultivating fields outside the walls. If he’s willing, of course.”
“I’m sure he will be. I’ll let him know.” Jason gave a half-salute and turned his horse back toward the herd. Minutes later the mass of beef, pork, and lambchops on legs was flowing down into the wide tunnel.
With that major component of their ability to feed themselves resolved, Allistor decided to take a little personal time. He’d been running and fighting nonstop since the apocalypse, and he felt a little worn down.
“Helen, I’m gonna go spend a few days at the Warren, catch up with Amanda for a bit. You could probably use some down time, too.”
She slung her rifle over her shoulder. “Actually, I was thinking I wanted to take some time and learn a few more skills. Maybe level them all up a little bit.”
“Great. Ramon will give you whatever you want. How ‘bout we meet back here, in three days?” She nodded, and he set off toward the teleport pad with Fuzzy following. He verbally activated the teleport, and a few seconds later was looking around the main area of the Warren.
*****
Back at the Warren, Amanda was using her Internal Analysis on a hunter who’d just come back after a fight with a Lanx, during which he’d been badly injured. His companions had healed him, but Amanda wanted to check whether his broken bones and torn skin had healed back stronger than they were originally.
Since discovering that Allistor’s bones had become stronger from his multiple battle injuries, she’d been making a study of any injured people she could find. She’d even secretly experimented on a bunny, making sure Chloe was thoroughly distracted at the time. Slowly but surely, she was developi
ng a theory that she hoped she could use to preemptively strengthen everyone’s bones and skin, rather than waiting for them to be injured.
It was a little like inventing a new drug, or inventing some new procedure. She was, in effect, trying to create a new spell. But that was still a ways down the road.
When she heard the knock on the door frame behind her, she was focusing on the man’s forearm where the big cat’s bite had crushed bone. She could see the faint marks from where it had shattered, then been pulled back together by healing magic. By comparison, the broken areas were much denser than nearby unbroken bone.
“If you’re not bleeding to death, have a seat. Be with you in a minute.” She didn’t even bother to look who it was.
“I’m gone a few days and you’ve already found a new guinea pig.” Allistor’s amused voice replied.
The hunter suddenly looked nervous, his eyes darting from Allistor to Amanda and back. Allistor held up a hand letting him know he was joking, and there wasn’t about to be a throwdown over Amanda’s affections. Relieved, the man slumped a bit, saying, “This guinea pig stuff ain’t exactly fun. She’s kinda… bossy.”
Allistor snorted. “It’s part of what I love about her.” Amanda just ignored them both and finished her scan of the man’s injuries.
“Right. We’re all done. You can flee now, you big brave hunter.” She pushed him toward the door. The man gratefully hopped up and exited the room, giving Allistor a respectful nod on the way out.
“So…I’ve had a few injuries since I saw you last… if you like I could get nekkid and let you…”
She snorted, interrupting his offer. “No need to traumatize anyone who might wander in. The scan works perfectly well through your clothes. Sit.” She pointed to the exam table and he obligingly hopped up.
“I missed youuuuu…” He leaned toward her with an exaggerated puckerface and proceeded to make kissy noises. She slapped his face lightly, then rewarded him with a quick smooch.
“I missed you too. Now hold still. This will only hurt a little.” She began to poke and prod at him, bending and twisting his limbs as she used the scanning spell. “You really did take some proper wounds out there.” she observed.
“There was this big dog-lizard thing that tried to eat me. I killed it. There was a woman who shot me in the back. Killed her too.” He grinned at her, puffing out his chest in a heroic posture.
“It’s your winning personality.” She paused for a second to look into his eyes. “Everyone and everything that meets you just naturally wants to eat your face. Or shoot it off.” She softened her words with another kiss, this one longer and softer.
He reached out and tried to pull her closer, but she smacked his hands away and retreated. Picking up a pad and pencil, she began making notes. “At this rate, by the end of the year you’ll have broken everything at least once. You’ll be stronger, like the six hundred dollar man.”
“Million. It was six million dollars.” he corrected absently while examining his arm himself. He remembered the wound, but couldn’t see what she could see.
“I said hundred and I meant it.” She grinned at him. “You’re nowhere near as sexy as he was.”
“But could he do magic?” Allistor cast Levitate and lifted her a foot off the ground. She kicked her feet a few times, but was unable to get any purchase as he pulled her into his lap. He canceled the spell as he gathered her into his arms.
“Talk to me when you can leap tall buildings in a single bound.” She kissed his cheek, but didn’t try to get up.
“No, that was… ya know what, never mind.” He squeezed her and leaned in for a real kiss that lasted for half a minute. When he came up for air, he said, “I’ve come to spend a few days with you. Taking a little vacation. A little “Amanda Time.” He gave his sweetest smile.
“Oh, really?” She leaned back a bit. “And what if I’m busy?”
“I… I’m sorry. I should have checked with you first.” His face fell, and she instantly regretted her words.
“Hush, silly man. As it happens, I’m not busy. A lady just likes to be valued. I don’t just sit around waiting for you to bless me with your presence, ya know?”
He nodded his head, the smile returning slowly as he tried to decide whether he was in trouble or not. “There is literally no one on Earth I value more than you.”
“Not even Fuzzy?” she asked.
“Well, okay, maybe Fuzzy.” He winked. “And Helen’s probably right behind you. And Chloe, cuz I mean how cute is she? And-”
He quit when she kissed him again. “Hush, stupid.”
They spent the night in her small original quarters, getting reacquainted. In the morning they had breakfast with the gang from the Warren, then teleported back to the Citadel to spend the next two days shut in his opulent lord’s quarters on the upper level. Amanda had Nigel keep track of anyone who was wounded so that she could examine them later. Allistor informed Nigel that they were not to be disturbed unless someone was dying, or something was on fire. Except for room service.
*****
Helen left Allistor and headed to find Ramon, who was back in the Citadel’s library. She found Nancy there with him, the two of them sitting quite close together and examining something on the table in front of them.
She cleared her throat, and they both looked up and smiled. A tiny voice from behind her said, “Don’t mind them. They cuddle like that all the time now. Gross.”
Helen turned to find Chloe standing behind her, holding a baby bunny in the crook of one arm and scratching its head. She seemed a good bit taller than Helen remembered. “Well, hello miss Chloe. I think you’ve grown since I saw you!”
Chloe nodded enthusiastically, a conspiratorial grin on her face. “I learned the Grow spell and tried it on myself. Mom got reeeeeally mad. I’m grounded. Till I’m twenty.” She grimaced. Helen tried not to laugh.
“Well, sweetling, your mom is right. You can’t just go casting spells on yourself like that. You’ll grow up soon enough. And believe me, you should enjoy being a kid while you can.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “That’s what Ramon said.” She looked at Helen for a moment, then added. “Being grounded is boring. I have to stay with momma wherever she goes, including this dumb place. Almost none of these books have any pictures.” Her face changed from sad to hopeful as she asked, “Did you see any cool monsters ‘n’ stuff while you were out with Allistor?”
“Sure did!” Helen led her to a table and lifted her up to sit on it while she took a chair, placing them nearly eye to eye. “There was this huge lizard-dog thing hiding in a stadium that we wanted to turn into a Stronghold…”
She spent the next half hour entertaining Chloe with their adventures as Nancy and Ramon canoodled over whatever they had on their table. When she got to the part about the giant dog injuring Allistor, Chloe giggled.
“He’s really not good at fighting, is he? I keep telling him not to let stuff bite him, but he never listens.”
Helen couldn’t help but laugh with the adorable little girl. “I’ll be sure and remind him for you when I see him!”
Eventually Nancy reclaimed her daughter, giving Helen a hug and making small talk for a few minutes before taking Chloe away. Helen took a seat at Ramon’s table, though not nearly as close as Nancy had been. “Hey there, pal!” She grinned at him. When he looked up, she made smoochy faces at him. “Got a few minutes for me? Or should I wait while you grab a cold shower?”
Totally unphased, Ramon just returned her smile. “I always have time for you. Thank you for… distracting the munchkin. When she’s bored, she can be quite a handful.”
“You two looked like you were studying something serious.” Helen observed.
“Well, not serious, exactly. More like interesting. I’ve been helping Michael with his enchanting. It’s not easy to get the materials he needs, so we’ve got all the foragers on the lookout for usable stuff. One of them brought back some geodes the other day – she just though
t they were pretty.” When he saw a blank look on her face, he added, “The rocks with the crystals inside.”
When she nodded in recognition, he continued. “Michael used a tiny chisel to break one of them free, then tried to enchant it. The results were surprising. The crystal held a much stronger spell than he’d ever managed before.” He pointed at a diagram of a geode on the table in front of him. “I was telling Nancy about it, and about how Michael was thinking if he could get his hands on larger crystals, he could create some truly powerful items.”
Helen followed along, making a leap of intuition. “And Nancy thinks she might be able to find bigger crystals? Or… no! She thinks she can grow the crystals you already have!”
Ramon nodded, pulling over a book and showing it to her. “We were researching how they grow, and what minerals or materials they need.”
“That’s very cool!” Helen thumped him on the shoulder. “I hope you guys can pull it off. Speaking of research, Allistor said you might help me with learning or improving some skills?”
“Absolutely!” Ramon gave her a double-thumbs up. “We depend on you to keep him alive when he does something stupid like make himself giant turtle bait. Whatever you need.”
“Well, we were in a fight the other day where I wasn’t much help. Needed silence, and all I had was guns and my knife. I sort of know how to shoot a bow, from when I was a kid. But I haven’t tried it since the world ended. Will I pick up the skill if I just go shoot for a bit?”
Ramon nodded. “Yup. You will. And I suggest you do that. We’re finding that skills you earn naturally level up faster than skills learned from books or scrolls. And if you learn it naturally then use the skill scroll, it boosts you to a higher level than normal.”
The two of them spoke for another hour, Helen considering skills she’d like to learn, Ramon either coaching her or providing scrolls.
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