Ian left Irene sleeping. He silenced her worries last night with sex. The ploy worked every time. He was really very impressed with his performance. He felt certain she was carrying his heir this morning.
“I need to speak to you about the defense of the back entrance,” Sophia said to him as soon as he reached his table.
“We covered everything last night,” Ian responded.
“Not everything,” Sophia said. She licked her lips and gave him a sulky look. Ian frowned. He glanced up at the stairs. Luckily there was still no sign of Irene. Ian didn't want her seeing Sophia's jealousy.
“What did you miss?” he asked.
“We can walk through the defenses and I will show you,” Sophia responded. The woman was almost humping the table. Ian decided he couldn't risk this kind of display here.
“Fine,” Ian said, rising to his feet. “Let's go see this problem.”
Sophia led him out of the inn and across the courtyard to the back door. She didn't stop at the outer guard station but continued on. She rounded a corner and waited in front of the first room that was out of the guards sight.
Ian threw the door open, ready to blast any animals within. The room was unoccupied. Sophia threw herself on him, grinding her loins against him.
He took her on a broken desk. He didn't have any need for more children from this woman, but he saw no need to deny himself either. If only Irene would get pregnant so easily. Sophia must have borne at least a dozen brats by now. Ian didn’t even know what the woman did with most of them. She barely showed the pregnancies and only admitted to a handful of them to Jake. Ian knew about them because she became particularly demanding right after she gave birth.
“Does that satisfy you?” he questioned, when he was certain he could deliver the words in a cool calm voice.
“It seemed a little soft to me,” Sophia responded. “Irene is making you weak.”
“Weak huh?” Ian replied. He threw her up against the wall. He took her two more times before she finally had enough. Ian thought she must have pushed out twins last week. Ian felt a trace of pity for Jake. Before Ian hit tier five it would have been physically impossible to give this performance. There was no way Jake could have a chance at satisfying her. Every time Ian exceeded himself, Sophia only wanted more. He found the entire experience cheap and shallow. Bedding Irene once brought him ten times the satisfaction that this little scene gave him.
Sophia craved rough sex in dangerous places as proof that they were still partners. Sophia wanted to believe that only she could satisfy him. He found that amusing. Why would any man want a genetic diversity child whose poor performance on the aptitudes got her assigned to animal culture when they could have the trueborn daughter of a queen? Ian was glad he wasn’t going to need Sophia much longer. He was looking forward to being free of her. Ian didn’t see any reason for her to survive the battle of Redfalls.
“I need you to set up a sniper nest for me,” Ian told Sophia. “Something with a good view of the battle, but hard to see from our side.”
“I thought you were going to Chicago,” Sophia responded. They were laying in the filth and debris that littered the room’s floor. Ian flicked a piece of iron away that was under his ass.
“I am, but Irene will take my place. Since she never fights, no one will think it is her,” Ian explained. “Just make sure no one from our side will be able to see it isn’t me.”
“Are you sure she will do it?” Sophia asked. “She is a coward.”
“She is more pacifist than coward,” Ian observed, remembering when he saw her stand before the charging boar in the green. “She’ll do it to protect the children. I’ll instruct her to just use stun. It should make her happy that she doesn’t have to kill anyone.”
“And everyone will assume it is you, since you use stun all the time,” Sophia admitted.
“When I return, we’ll let the blues push forward into the courtyard. I’ll chase them in and finish them off like I abandoned the sniper's nest in a final defense. If the blues manage to kill a few of those worthless widows that keep begging for handouts, that will make the final push look more heroic,” Ian explained.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’ll make sure everyone knows not to take them into the apartments or inn rooms,” Sophia volunteered.
“Excellent,” Ian grinned. That idea deserved a reward.
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Ian returned to the square under camouflage. He didn't want Irene to catch sight of his rumpled state. Since she was still sleeping in his room when he left he entered it with caution, feeling for any moving weapons in the room. He was relieved to find that she was already gone for the day. He stripped off his stained clothing and scrubbed off all traces of the rough sex from his body.
He used a skinning knife to refresh his shave and trim his hair. He combed it so that it lay just right, using the reflection of his image in the knife to check his appearance. There were no mirrors in the sanitation facility and as Captain he needed to maintain his image.
His tier meant the scratches Sophia inflicted on him were already healed. Most of his blood was reabsorbed by his skin, but traces of it stained his armor, along with Sophia’s blood and other excretions. He used a cloth to wipe it all off. The armor was self cleaning, but removing the large stains would speed the process. There would be no trace of contaminants on it by evening to disturb Irene.
He put his armor back on and belted his cutlass into place. His appearance repaired, he made his way back out of the inn. He would tour the preparations, inspiring his troops with his presence. There was no need for him to join in the work. There was enough dirt on his hands for the day.
Ian found Jake digging a trench in the green. The trench would have to be retouched each day since the green naturally repaired itself. Jake was making it especially deep to start with to make it last longer.
“When I get this finished, we are going to try and flood it,” Jake reported. “Hopefully that will give us some warning of cloaked adversaries in the area.”
“Yes, very good,” Ian said aloud, even as he worked out how he would get past it. If he could figure out a way, then having it in place would only help convince his people he never left the battle. He spotted Sophia pointing out where she wanted a sniper's nest. Ian noted with satisfaction that her gait was a little off from her usual smooth hunter’s stalk. He smirked a little before returning his attention to Jake. “Once these defenses are in place we will need to man them full time to keep them from melting away,” Ian told the warrior. “Set up a rotation.”
“Will do, boss,” Jake responded. He watched Ian walk off with a frown. Jake didn’t like how the other man looked at Sophia. Jake tried to warn her that Ian hated her. Sophia wouldn’t listen. She thought Jake was jealous because she was promoted over him to make decisions on the border when Ian was away. She spent most of her time with Ian’s personal strike team, while Jake was assigned to lead the Seconds.
She didn’t understand that he preferred working with the Seconds, ferrying dependents and supplies to and from Redfalls. It allowed him to spend time with their children.
His preparations for evacuating were complete. If the battle went against them or the crystal failed, a core group of fathers would escort the women and children to Chicago. There they could organize and plan next steps. Food and equipment for the trip was stored in an apartment that Jake keyed all the men into. He left a note with the food about the square Irene found. Even leaving the note was against Ian’s instructions, but if Jake was killed in the fighting he didn’t want the knowledge lost. The note included the information that the crystal in Redfalls was shrinking due to the war. Since Irene told him her theory, he confirmed it from observations of its decreasing size and reports of when battles occurred. In the note he recommended that anyone involved in the fighting shouldn’t be allowed into the new square.
Jake picked his spear up to loosen more soil. Once it was loose, he would scoop it out of the ditch using a split sheet of wood. It was hard work, but if it helped protect his family, it was worth it.
Sophia directed the set up for the sniper's nests. She paid particular attention to the one Ian requested for Irene. She made sure no one on their side could see it with one exception. By leaning just slightly forward Sophia would have a clear view of it from her position.
Once Irene served her purpose to prove Ian’s presence here, Sophia would finally rid herself of the wizard. Sophia only managed to keep her knife out of Irene’s back because the woman was barren. Sophia didn’t think that was even possible in the structure, but there Irene was, childless after all these years.
Sophia was pregnant within the first month. Jake wasn’t the father. The father turned out to be a complete disappointment. Sophia didn’t think Jake would believe his implant failed that fast. She managed to hide the pregnancy from him by getting herself sent to Chicago on a buying trip during the last month. She gave birth in Chicago and turned the baby over to the orphanage there the next day. She was fairly certain the second daughter she gave Jake was actually his.
It might be time to think about getting rid of Jake too. Not yet, the man was a powerful fighter, and he would still be needed for the march to Chicago. They would need a good show of force to secure overall leadership of all the suburbs.
Irene’s death had to look like it came at the hands of the blues. That was why Sophia needed to get rid of her now. If Irene made it out of Redfalls alive, getting rid of her would get so much harder. If Ian even suspected Sophia, he would kill her. Sophia thought about that.
Jake would never harm Sophia. He loved her. He would forgive her anything. Way back on the Speedwell they made a pact to do whatever it took to end up on top. When they made it to Londontown it might be Ian who needed to go. Sophia was not going to let some other woman step in at the last moment and take her place as queen.