Chapter 23

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

“Asud Gu!”

Silver light flared around Kassie and me. Then we were standing in an identical room. The only reason I knew that we had teleported was the door that had been there before I was gone. I turned around and spotted it behind me.

“Not a long distance, Lord Leo,” Kassie said, smoothing her robes, “but they’re linked.”

“Excellent,” I said and marched to the door and opened it. My monster girl companions were crowding the room.

“Wasn’t it neat teleporting?” Garnet asked. “Big bro, wasn’t it so cool.”

“I guess,” I said as Kassie followed me out. “And you’re the only one that can use them?”

“Any mage can use them,” Kassie said. “That is one point of vulnerability to them. Of course, they have to have figured out the pass-code. That was most of my research, figuring out how to activate it.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. Now for the next test.”

I grabbed the Void Crystal. I took the room to the right and moved it adjacent to the hub beneath Astovin. The door vanished. “Kassie, let’s see if they still work.”

“Garnet,” said Kassie. “You volunteering again.”

“I’m not going to end up in Meskalamdug’s creepy dungeon, am I?” Garnet asked.

Crystal rolled her eyes. “There’s hardly any left of it. Just the teleportation circle and the inscription room. Our brother wrecked the rest of it.”

“Still,” Garnet said, fidgeting.

“I’ll do it,” Maya said. “Come on, Kassie.”

I followed them through the door. Maya stepped into the circle, the word was spoken, then she was gone. Just like that. The light faded.

“I’m in Astovin,” said Maya.

I smiled. “These are going to be so useful,” I said. “They’re points of vulnerability, but only if they stay in one place. When I need to use them to get around, I can just move one to where I’m going. I’m sorry you’ll have to be my chauffeur, Kassie.”

“Chauffeur?” she asked, giving me a strange look.

“A valet,” said Hagane.

Kassie shrugged. “I’m one of your servants, Lord Leo.” The halfling quivered, a big smile on her lips. “This is so fascinating that we can move the rooms around and they stay linked. I had never even thought of using them this way.”

“Then this is going to work,” I said. I grabbed the Void Crystal and brought back the room with Maya in it. She opened the door and peered into the room, blinking.

“I could have used the circle” she muttered.

“We have work to do.” I sent the ghosts to the tunnel beneath Sharithin. “Duhot, you and your sisters need to find me four buildings that we can use to bring in our forces. I want them to be spread out around the city. East, west, north, and south.”

“Yes, Dark One,” came Duhot’s mournful answer.

Excitement shot through me. Then I summoned Paanee and Baaghi, realizing I would need them, along with one of each of the Level 2 monster girls into the throne room. The first ones I made who often acted as the captains for their particular group. Gyvate the quetzalcoatl, Damhanalla the arachne, Bhaaloo the werebear, Skamianiela the basilisk, Zobens the orc, Snezhinka the yuki-onna, Rih the unicorn, Engana the salamander, and Talalo the sphinx.

The only ones I didn’t bring were Duhot since she was busy and Ghoda, my hippocampus. There would be no water for her to swim in. I always felt bad for the Water monster girls. They were so hard to use. The mermaids and hippocampi needed to swim to move around. They were useless on land.

I led the others back to the throne room where the monster girls were at. Kassie’s map was in the center of the room on a table I had created. I moved to it, the others watching. My monster girls knew that something was up.

That an attack was about to be launched.

Damhanalla looked so nervous, the arachne rubbing her hands together. Then she gasped at the sight of Kassie.

“A halfling,” she whimpered, her head whipping around. “They can melt your skin with their eyes.”

“We can?” Kassie asked, staring in shock at Damhanalla.

“She’s Lord Leo’s personal mage,” said Garnet. She raced over to the arachne. “Trust me. She’ll never hurt you.”

“She’s scared of me?” whispered Kassie.

“The arachne are shy,” I said. “But in a fight, they are fearless and deadly.”

Damhanalla hugged my little sister to those big, gray breasts with the red diamond stretched between them. The spider-girl’s black carapace had a waxy gleam to it, her multifaceted eyes reflecting a distorted and broken mirror of the world.

“The problem, Lord Leo, is the composition of the enemy monster girls,” said Hagane. “Fifteen out of twenty-two of them are going to be in the air. Thunderbirds, phoenixes, and hippogriffs will pose a major problem to us.”

I nodded as I looked around the room. Only the quetzalcoatls and the sphinxes could fly. “I have ten monster girls plus Lana, Garnet, Mrs. Lucina, and Nina.”

“I can fly, Lord Leo,” Isatu said, spreading her wings wide in emphasis.

“So can we,” Engana said. “Sort of.” The salamander spread her wings. They were made of flame. “We’re not the fastest, but we can help.”

I considered that. They were able to fly, but they didn’t seem as confident as the others. “How well do you fly.”

“Well, it’s more a glide,” Engana said. “But we’re really good at gliding.”

“That’s not going to work,” Nina Naughty said. “As much as I would like to fly in the sky with you.”

“Yeah,” Engana sighed. “I know, we’re more ground monster girls. Gliding is good for us to move through mountains and pounce on prey from above. I think that’s how we used to work.”

“You’re just not going to work for the air attack,” I said, sighing.

“Sorry,” Engana said.

I smiled at her. “I’ll still have a use for you.”

“There’s Feya,” Smerta pointed out.

“She has her responsibilities in Astovin,” I said. “And you’re on reserve, Isatu.” I stared at my dragon. “I don’t want to reveal to the world that I have a dragon if I don’t have to. Things have to have gone horribly wrong before I’ll unleash you.”

Isatu sighed. “I suppose that just makes me so special, right?”

“That’s right.”

“The ghosts can fly,” Morana pointed out. “That brings it to nineteen against fifteen.”

“Right, right,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t think about them in that way. Okay. Then we need to figure out how to take on these monster girls. Thunderbirds are thunder monster girls, so we’ll—”

“Lightning, actually,” corrected Fara. “They’re made of lightning.”

“Okay, so the quetzalcoatls are not useful against them,” I said.

“We’re ready to fight whomever you need us to, Lord Leo,” Gyvate said, her rainbow-hued hair framing her calm face.

“Send the ghosts after the thunderbirds,” Hagane said. “They’ll be hard to be hurt.”

Morana nodded. “The ghosts are perfect. Their spectral attacks will be effective.”

“Led by me,” Nina said. “I’m not going to be good again the phoenixes.”

“I’ll take the phoenixes, then,” Mrs. Lucina. “With the sphinxes.”

“So I have the hippogriffs with the quetzalcoatls,” Lana Fulmine said. “I am sure they would love to have their big sis with them.”

“We would!” Gyvate shouted, her rainbow wings fluttering. She rose up on her green snake tail. “We’ll defeat the hippogriffs.”

“Lord Leo, allow my orcs to kill the werewolves,” Zobens growled, her golden sword in hand. The orc stood tall and impressive.

“Don’t let the orcs have all the fun,” Bhaaloo growled. “I would love to tear those she-bitches apart. My werebears will fight hard.”

“I like that,” Leo said. “Better odds than we’ll have in the air.” I looked around. “Terra, you lead them.”

My golem nodded. The Earth monster girl formed her fist into a hammer.

“What about me?” Garnet asked. “I’m a flyer, big bro. I can fight.”

My stomach churned. She wasn’t the best fighter. Then something hit me. “I have a special task for you.”

“Ooh?” she asked, her wings fluttering.

“You’re coordinating evacuation from the air,” I told my little sister. “You will have to be flying around the city, making sure the halflings are getting out and no one is left behind.”

“You can count on me, big bro!” Garnet said with such seriousness in her voice. She wasn’t playing around here.

“Maya and Mom, you two will be commanding ground forces who are doing the actual evacuating.”

They both nodded.

“Maya, I want you to have the west half of the city. Mother, the east half. Rih and your unicorns, you’ll assist Maya. Skamianiela, your basilisks will aid my mother.”

“Lord Leo,” Skamianiela hissed, the blue-scaled basilisk smiling.

“I will, Lord Leo,” the gentle Rih said, her voice soft. Her hooves clopped on the ground as she shifted in place.

“Garnet, you’ll guide them to any who need to be saved.” I looked around the room. “We are saving as many halflings as we can.”

“We’ll save them all, big bro!” Garnet whooped, bouncing up and down. “Kweh, heh, heh.”

My mother smiled while Maya winked at me. I could count on them to get it done.

“What about me?” my older sister asked. “I want to kick ass, too.”

“Sky support,” I said. “You, Paanee, and the yuki-onna have long-range attacks. I want you on the rooftops to support the air battle.”

“Sounds fun,” Crystal said, rubbing her hands together.

“Massster,” hissed Paanee. The armless naga bowed, her large breasts swaying.

“We’ll cut them down, Lord Leo,” Snezhinka said. The pale yuki-onna also bowed, mist spilling off her frozen body.

“What about us?” Engana asked. The salamander’s eyes burned with eager fire. “If we can’t fight in the skies, where are we fighting?”

“Do you need us?” Damhanalla asked. “Halflings are scary. Maybe we can stay behind?”

“But you’re not fighting halflings, Damhanalla,” I said. “The arachnes and salamanders are with me, Halia, Usiku, and Ms. Trueno. We’re hitting the commanders in the middle.” I stabbed the map. “I’ll come from the north with Ms. Trueno and your arachnes, Damhanalla. Halia, you’ll lead Usiku and the salamanders from the south.”

“And what task shall I perform, Dark Lord,” Morana asked in an extra-gothy voice. Mournful and soulful, her black mist spilling thick over her pale figure.

“Yes, Lord Leo?” Baaghi asked. She licked her chops. The rakshasa’s whiskers twitched.

Hagane nodded, giving me a questioning look with her metallic eyes.

“You three are my reserves,” I said. “You will attack where we need extra help.”

“The QRF,” Hagane said.

“The what?” asked Ms. Trueno, giving me a quizzical look.

I shook my head.

“It’s a US Military term,” said Hagane. “It means Quick Reaction Force.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I’ll station you in the west, east, and south parts of the town. If someone in those areas needs help, you’re on it.” I glanced at my dragon. “You’ll be in the north part. My very last resort.”

Isatu nodded. “As you wish, Lord Leo.”

“We have found four suitable buildings, Lord Leo,” Duhot reported.

“Return to the dungeon,” I said and broke away from the table.

I quickly rushed to my Vault and used the Void Crystal to return the five ghosts to me. They drifted about me on the way back, a strange honor guard of ethereal women, naked and glowing green. There was nothing hotter than that.