“All right,” said Jack. “It’s good to know Kyle wasn’t a part of this other stuff and we

can concentrate on the north.”

“Call from Officer Numera,” announced the Enterprise.

“Put her through,” said Jack.

“Jack?,” said Elaine from the air.

“I’m here, Hon,” said Jack.

“We had an incident here in the city,” said Elaine.

“Are you all right?,” asked Jack. He stood up. In ten seconds, he could be dropping

torpedoes on the city.

“He never asks about us,” said Melanie, in the background.

“It’s the weakness in true love,” said Matilda. “The only thing important is your loved

one, not your cousins.”

“Is Caroline all right, Mistress Numera?,” asked Rickard. He looked like he was willing

to approve the loss of some buildings in Hawk Ridge.

“I’m fine, Father,” said Caroline. “I did get to knock someone in the head with a staff.”

“That’s my girl,” said Rickard and Case at the same time. The king glowered at his

daughter’s suitor.

“Josie isn’t here,” said Mister Warner, cutting through the noise. “Give us a rundown

before she comes back.”

“We were accosted while shopping by some unknown adventurers,” said Elaine. “They

wanted us to hand over Caroline and walk away. The girls decided not to.”

“Elaine shot one with her crossbow as a no, Milord,” said Beatrice. “The rest was

helping Seven and Emily scatter the pieces.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I will be over Hawk Ridge in a few seconds. Then I will come

down there and do things.”

“We can take care of the rest of this, Milord,” said Matilda. “Just keep the missus busy

until we get done.”

“You can take care of the rest of this, Matty?,” said Jack. He frowned at the open air.

“With Aviras and Beatrice’s help,” said Matilda. “I think Alicia wants to practice what

you gave her more too.”

“I’m sticking my neck on the line for you, Matty,” said Jack.

“If I want to be a champion too, I have to get experience,” said Matilda. “The same

goes for Seven, if she is to stay June’s partner.”

“Elaine?,” said Jack. “You are the one in command on the ground. What do you think?”

“Our Ducklings have turned into eagles,” said Elaine. “I think that Matilda is right. I

think they can handle any problem as long as they stick together.”

Josie started to appear in the conference room. Jack could see her hand moving as the

teleport started wearing off.

“Do what you think best, call for help if you need it,” said Jack. “Enterprise, cut call.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine.

“Nobody heard anything,” said Jack. He settled back in his chair.

“Jack...,” said Case as a preclude to some demand.

“Anything,” said Jack. He put a smile on his face as his partner and her guard

materialized fully. “How did the expedition go?”

Jack tried not to wince inside as Josie evaluated the room. He could tell she knew

something was wrong. As long as Case remained silent, they could escape murder in

the conference room.

“I set them up as innkeepers,” said Josie. “What’s going on here?”

“We were talking about the angles we could pursue about the border situation,” said

Jack. “Which we haven’t figured out yet.”

“Do you think Hax and Russ can find something?,” asked Haslet. “They would have

to search a lot of records for whatever he was hoping to find.”

“And a hand search would take forever,” said Jack.

“We should head up north and check to see if they have found anything,” said Josie.

“I wonder how much of this consortium is on both sides of the border,” said Jack.

“Our enemy belongs to both countries?,” said Budd. “Is that possible?”

“Yes,” said Glunt. “It’s even more possible if they are part of the administration and

trading in their positions.”

“Rails may regulate my side of the border,” said Rickard. He gestured with a hand.

“But private interests can still buy up what they need for an enterprise and make it work

under the rules.”

“If an interest set up on both sides of the border?,” asked Budd.

“Paperwork and taxes would be the primary interests of both sides,” said Worldy.

Rickard nodded in agreement.

“So if we knew who ran things on both sides, that would give us an idea on who we

should be trying to target,” said Josie.

“The Parliament would still like evidence for why I allied with a foreign government

and investigated this,” said Worldy. “Mister Glunt and General Haslet would probably

suffer some minor career setbacks, but my head would be mounted on a pike.”

“We would never let them do that,” said Jack. He grinned at the minister. “Josie would

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

have a talk with your government again first.”

Glunt and Haslet blanched at the suggestion of another flock of firebirds blasting

through the city, but Worldy just nodded.

“Thank you very much for your consideration,” said the minister.

“We need to know if Hax and Russ found something,” said Josie. “Then we can figure

out the rest of this.”

“I also have reinforcements heading for the border,” said Rickard. “We should do

something about that.”

“Enterprise,” said Jack. “Can you put us over the army heading for the border?”

“Affirmative,” said the machine. The light in the windows changed as the ship headed

north from Karieda.

“Will your general recognize your handwriting, Your Majesty?,” asked Josie.

“Yes,” said Rickard. “We hand him a letter?”

“It will have to include everything we have found out, and the fact that he might have

to launch from Coldwater at any enemy we might unearth,” said Josie. “Will he defy

Rails to follow your orders?”

“My orders supercede anything the local nobility can claim,” said Rickard.

“Let’s get him on the same page with us in case we need more force than the Enterprise

can bring to bear,” said Josie.

“More force than we can use with this?,” said Case. He waved his arms to indicate the

whole of the ship.

“I told you,” said Jack. “I can flatten a region in seconds, but there will always be a

need for boots on the ground to make sure. Don’t get me wrong. The Enterprise is the

biggest crossbow in the air, and a wonderful force multiplier, but it lacks the things to

replace soldiers for good.”

“What things?,” asked Budd. He knew better than to ask, but did it anyway.

“Hands,” said Jack. He wiggled the fingers on his own to demonstrate his point.

“If this consortium is behind this, how do we prove they wanted to start a war?,” said

Worldy.

“We’re going to have to set some kind of trap,” said Josie. She handed the king paper

and pen. “We need to catch them in front of witnesses doing something illegal.”

“What would you do if you didn’t have to prove this in a court?,” asked Worldy. He

ignored the hand waves behind Josie’s back.

“I would use divination to find the people responsible, and I would have a talk with

them,” said Josie.

“If Hax doesn’t find anything, we should do that,” said Worldy. “We have enough

evidence to denote a conspiracy. We have prisoners who can explain how everything

was supposed to work before we got involved. We have witnesses who saw a battalion

of their own soldiers try to kill them before witches stopped them.”

“And I have seen enough on my own side to hold court and try the people we scooped

up back at my keep,” said Rickard.

“They are bound to keep trying unless we cut them off at the neck,” said Josie. She

frowned at the thought. “How many more people will they hurt if we let this go?”

“I could lose Coldwater in a protracted engagement with Shemmaria,” said Rickard.

“Those people will be the first ones hurt, as well as the surrounding farmers and

hunters that keep the city fed.”

“We could lose most of our outposts, and the city of Caldon,” said Haslet. “It is not as

big as Coldwater, but it is a lynchpin to the defense of the border.”

“The letter is done,” said Rickard. He folded the paper closed.

“Jack, if you can deliver it to the general,” said Josie. “We can call Mister Hax and see

if he found something we can use to solve this.”

“On my way,” said Jack. “Come on, Case. You can watch my back in case I have to do

something drastic.”

He took the letter and asked the Enterprise to put him and Case on the ground. He

nodded at the line of mounts coming their way. Supplies and command should probably

be in the back of the line.

He waved the flagbearer down. The young soldier halted his horse off the line to frown

at the two men standing on the road.

“The General?,” asked Jack. “I have a letter for him.”

“He should be in the back with the command staff,” said the flagbearer. “Come on. I’ll

take you down to him.”

He turned his horse to lead them down the line of soldiers and wagons until they

reached what looked like a large stagecoach to Jack. He supposed it might be some

kind of mobile command. He hadn’t expected that out of the kingdom.

The flagwaver knocked on the door, keeping pace with the wagon on the back of his

horse. Jack and Case walked behind the horse. Soldiers on the back and roof of the

wagon had hands next to polearms to make sure the visitors didn’t try to hitch a ride

with their betters.

A shutter slid open to reveal a window in the side of the conveyance. A surly sergeant

from the look of it leaned out of the window. He glared at the flagbearer.

“Message for the general,” said the flagbearer. He nodded before riding back to the

front of the line.

Jack jogged up to the window. The sergeant seemed to think it was okay to keep him

running instead of stopping the wagon. The watchbearer grinned at the soldier for a

moment.

“I have a message from the king,” said Jack. “Do you want to stop the wagon, or do

you want me to stop the wagon?”

“I’ll take it,” said the sergeant. He held his hand out of the window.

Jack grabbed the soldier’s arm with his hand. He triggered the watch with the other. The

sergeant came out of the window and slid across the ground fast enough to give him a

mild case of road rash. Then the green giant smashed through the door with two steps.

The armed men on the top of the wagon realized they had no way to get into the

compartment with him without suffering the same fate as the sergeant.

“Which one of you is the general?,” asked Jack. “I have a letter from the king.”

“I’m General Kort,” said one of the uniformed men. He didn’t hold out his hand for the

letter.

Jack changed back. He pulled the letter from his pocket and handed it over. He leaned

out enough to check on Case. The adventurer was way behind the train of troops, but

still running after them.

“Do I need to wait for a reply?,” asked Jack.

“How much of this true?,” asked Kort. He handed the letter to another officer.

“We’re trying to chase these guys down on both sides of the border, we did track a guy

down in Coldwater, and you are making the king’s future son in law run behind you,”

said Jack. He grinned at the expressions on their faces. “It’s okay. Case needed the

exercise. If you could make sure no one is lurking in Fort Hern, that would be okay. We

might need to use it for a future staging. We don’t know right now since we don’t know

what their next move is.”

“And there will be a next move?,” asked the General.

“Communication is slow here,” said Jack. “I doubt anyone knows we dismantled the

attacks already. If they don’t know, then they have no reason to change their plans.”

“Which means we could have to contest the border around Hern, leading to Coldwater,”

said Kort.

“If you can hold on until we can assist, you won’t have to contest it for long,” said Jack.

“It just has to be long enough for my partner to vent her spleen.”

The general raised his eyebrows.

“I have to go,” said Jack. “Sorry about the door.”

He moved to the opened side of the wagon and walked off the small drop as the vehicle

kept rolling. He waved at the soldiers on top of the thing as it followed the line of

horsemen out of sight.

Case jogged to a stop, catching his breath.

“You left me,” said Case. “How was I supposed to help from out here?”

“You should work on your speed,” said Jack. “Run laps, that kind of thing.”

“I will ban all running when I am the king,” said Case.

“Enterprise,” said Jack into his com band. “Can you connect me to Elaine?”

“Affirmative,” said the machine. The channel opened up.

“Hello, Elaine,” said Jack. “How are things?”

“I have shown the girls how to set a house on fire,” said Elaine. “I have to go. We’re

in the middle of it.”

“Love you, Hon,” said Jack.

“I love you too,” said Elaine. She cut the connection.

“At least we know things are going well there,” said Jack. “Now we have to get back

to work.”

“Shouldn’t we be in Hawk Ridge?,” asked Case.

“Shouldn’t we be making sure no one breaks the code and turns Josie on us is the better

question,” said Jack. “Caroline is fine. We’re not if Josie finds out that I let the kids

go ahead when I should have told them to stand down.”

“That seems like a you problem,” said Case.

“Which I can escape,” said Jack. “Now which of us has a girl that doesn’t mind him

losing an ear?”

“I can see why Thad doesn’t like dealing with you,” said Case.

Jack grinned at him.

“Just so we understand each other,” said Jack. “Enterprise, the away team is ready

to come back.”

“Affirmative,” said the machine.