Chapter 24

It was late the next morning when we awoke. Shannon and Clare quickly went to change their tampons and take care of their morning business, leaving Gretchen and me in bed alone for a few minutes, but it wasn't time for a romantic interlude.

"I really need to pee," Gretchen told me, as she tried to get up by herself. "These two in my belly really fill me up," she added, as I helped her out of bed.

The girls were washing their faces and hands when we got to the bathing room, and I allowed Gretchen to go first, as she seemed to be in great need to relieve herself. I did my business when she finished, and then started brushing my teeth.

"We're going to check on breakfast," Shannon told me coming back into the bathing room. "We'll bring it back here," she added before she and Clare left. They were already dressed.

I was helping Gretchen at the time. She was learning how to use a toothbrush. I stood behind her and guided her arm until she got the hang of it. She was so very soft and warm. Also, both of us were still naked. This had an effect on both of us. The toothbrush and brushing were quickly forgotten.

"Oh yes, Michael!!" Gretchen moaned after spitting out the toothpaste. She could feel my hard cock against her soft, warm butt.

"Love me again, Michael!" she whispered huskily. We moved as one toward the waiting bed in the adjoining room.

I helped Gretchen onto the bed and got her settled near the edge of the mattress with her legs hanging over it. She was much too large now for her to be comfortable with me to be on top of her, but positioned like this, she was at just the right height for me to easily enter her while standing up and looking at her face. I slipped into her sweet body after she spread her legs wide.

We made love then for a long, long time with long, slow strokes. Gretchen had a look of great contentment on her face. Eventually, she wrapped her legs around my waist and our pace increased until we both came.

"Thank you Michael," she whispered upon recovering. "That was the best love that you have given me."

"You're welcome," I told her sincerely as I lay next to her having joined her in the bed. We kissed and cuddled for a short time before the others returned with breakfast.

"Is it okay to come in?" a voice asked after a knock on the door. I pulled the sheet over Gretchen and myself before answering.

"Yes, come in," I replied. Shannon wheeled in a cart with food and drinks on it. She and Clare were both smiling.

"Did you have an enjoyable time?" Clare asked Gretchen after hugging her.

"How... ?" Gretchen started with a deep blush, but stopped.

"Yes, we had a very good time," she finished with a smile.

"Good. That's why we took so long. We didn't want to interrupt you," Shannon told us with a smile.

"Come and eat," Clare told us, as she set out the food on the table in the corner for all of us.

"We need to dress first," Gretchen told them as she threw back the sheet.

Breakfast, after we dressed, was very good. It appeared that Shannon had reheated it with a spell while we were dressing.

"There is a meeting at 11:00 this morning," Clare told me while we all ate.

"What kind of meeting?" I asked.

"Grandfather Mark wants to go over what we all did last night. Everyone will be there," she told me.

"We should go back to the tower and get a good look, in daylight, at how the area looks now," I told them before asking, "Are Pat and his women aware of the meeting?"

"Yes, we talked to Sheena and Cathleen while getting breakfast," Shannon told me.

"We should get them to go with us," I had just finished saying when Pat and his women appeared in our living room.

"Are you planning on going to the tower before the meeting?" he asked.

"Yes, we were about to come see you about that," I told him.

"We should take Gretchen and Petra with us, so they can see what we did last night," Sheena suggested.

"Yes, we can do that," Pat agreed with a smile. We were all soon ready and transferred to the battlements of the Eschenheimer Tower. The guard on duty there was not as startled as those last night had been.

There were still clouds over the vast area north of the walls and the defenses of Frankfurt this morning, but in their muted light, we could still easily see where the fires last night had consumed the enemy's equipment and supplies. There was still some thin smoke rising from the areas on the second row of trenches where the timber supplies had been. There were only a few people visible, and they appeared to be searching through the ashes of the equipment sites for any metal parts that might have survived the fires in reasonably good condition.

"There isn't a lot to see," Gretchen said after studying the area for a time.

"No, we destroyed and burned their equipment and supplies last night," Cathleen told her quietly.

"Just the six of you did all of that?" Petra asked in shock pointing out at the plain north of the city.

"Yes. The rest of the family was busy on the east and west sides of the city," Pat told her. We all turned then to look to the east and then the west sides of the city. The towers and walls interfered with the view somewhat, but we could still see the damage done in the second and third rows of trenches on those two sides of the city. The damage there wasn't quite as extensive as the damage on the north side of the city, and there was no whole equipment visible, but there was evidence of a large numbers of fires.

"This is truly amazing!"Gretchen said. "We were told that the enemy would begin the attack on the city within a few days. Now, they don't have any equipment to do that!"

"I'm sure that given enough time, they will find more equipment. We just need to see to it that they don't have that time," I told her.

"We need to get to the meeting," Shannon reminded us.

"You all go on to the meeting. I'll return Gretchen and Petra to our apartments,"Pat volunteered. We all vanished from the battlements a few seconds later. Most of the family was in the conference room when we appeared there.

"Where's Pat?" Aunt Sara asked noting her Son's absence.

"He's returning Gretchen and Petra to our apartments," I told her.

"Where were you that he would need to do that?" she asked.

"We were up on the Eschenheimer Tower surveying the area north of the city. Well, what is left of it anyway," I told her.

Our four female cousins and the O'Neill Sons appeared as I finished speaking. Seamus and Sean looked refreshed, and our Cousins were still smiling. Pat appeared before they could ask any questions.

"If we're all here, let's begin," Grandfather Mark said following their arrival.

"We'll start with Mike and Pat on the north wall, and work our way around to the east. We'll finish with the west side and the river. Mike, Pat, describe what you found and how you proceeded," Grandfather told us.

Pat and I described the events of our attack last night with the help of our women. Everyone was surprised when we described what the O'Toole Sisters had done with the burning balls of tar and pitch.

"Have you been to look at the area in daylight?" Grandfather asked.

"Yes sir. We just came from looking at the area. There is still some smoke and a lot of ash, but no visible weapons," Pat told him. We went over the actions of the other groups last night also. They had all been successful, although not quite as successful as we had been.

One item kept coming up from each group when they gave their report, and that was the lack of communication with the other groups and with those in charge.

"We definitely need a better way to communicate than with messengers, which is all that we have now," my Mom said when everyone was finished.

"They don't have anything better than that here," Pat's Father, Uncle Sean, said.

"We have the radios that we carry on the tractors, but they are back in our Reality," my Dad pointed out.

"Are they still working?" Uncle Ed asked.

"Yes, but some of them may need to have their batteries charged," my Dad replied.

"We should send someone back to get them, and some binoculars also so we can get a better look at those camps," Aunt Tara told everyone. It was finally decided to send someone back for the radios and binoculars. Guess who got picked?

Yes, that's right. Pat and me. We knew where the radios were kept, and were told where our relatives kept their binoculars.

"What about recharging the batteries?" I asked. "If we are here for very long, they will need recharging."

"You may have to return every day or so to recharge them," Grandfather answered.

"This could turn into a serious pain," Pat remarked.

"Let's hope that we can finish this up quickly, so we don't need to do that," Pat's Father said before we began the spell and its glyph to return us to our Reality for the needed equipment.

We materialized in the main tractor shed. The office there was where the radios, their spare batteries, and the chargers were kept. To our surprise, we found Thomas Stuart's Son Roger there. All of the radios were charging as well as their spare batteries.

"Hi Rog! What are you doing here?" Pat asked in surprise.

"Hey guys! I had dream last night that you would need these radios, and I came over here right after I got up, and started everything charging. They are just about finished by now," he told us. Pat and I just looked at each other. We didn't need telepathy to think 'the Eternal Flame' together.

"Thanks a lot, Rog. We really appreciate that. We returned from the Other Reality for them," Pat told him.

"And to get our relatives' binoculars for them," I added.

"Glad to help," Roger replied. "How are things going there?"

"Pretty well, but we need to be able to communicate with each group when we are in different places doing things," I told him.

"We'll go collect the binoculars, and return here to get the radios," Pat told him just before we both vanished to do that.

We eventually located all of the binoculars that we had been told about. Every pair was different, and they ranged from small 6 x 30s to a pair of 10 x 50s. The smaller ones would only be good for daylight use, but the larger, wider ones should be good into the late evening or even for nighttime use.

When we returned to the office in the tractor shed, Roger had all of the radios and spare batteries in a box for easy transportation. Our Parents had purchased the radios and their related equipment a number of years ago from the Statesboro Police Department when they had switched to newer and different radios. There were twelve of them and each had its own charger and a spare battery. Additionally there was a gang type battery charger for the spares. The radios had seen some hard use, but were well made and still functioned reliably.

"Thanks, Rog! We owe you," I told him.

"If you would tell Katie that I was the one that had them ready, we would be even," Roger said with a grin.

"Sure. I'll be sure to let her know what you have done for us. I'm sure that my Sister will remember and be grateful," I told him. Pat and I shook hands with him after that before we gathered everything and vanished.

We immediately reappeared in the conference room in the Other Reality with the binoculars and radios. Everyone was still there, and they had been doing some planning while we had been gone. We could see numerous sheets of paper with diagrams and lists of names on them.

"That was quick," Grandfather Mark said, as we settled the box with the radios and batteries on the table near him. We set the other box with the binoculars in the middle of the table so they could be sorted out later.