Wallace

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The others were already waiting once I arrived. Rather than sit by the bar or at the table where we had lunch, they were over in the sitting area by the windows that looked down upon the convention space.

It was somewhere between the sort of furniture you'd see in the VIP area of a trendy club and the style you'd expect from an old fashioned smoking lounge. A mix of low couches and large leather armchairs. The furniture faced inwards rather than towards a television or fireplace, and at the centre was a low coffee table.

Next to the table was an unoccupied loveseat. I sat down and slid the letter across the table.

"This is some bullshit," I declared.

Constance was the first to reach for it and read it aloud to the others while Val scrambled up into my lap.

Dear Lord Wallace,

I regret it has become clear we cannot share these three cities. But I feel responsible for the girls I've brought under my sway, and I do not want to see them hurt, just as I'm sure you do not want to see your own subjects hurt. So I offer you the following terms: Both sides agree not to use lethal force against the other, and when a loser has been made clear, they will be exiled from the three cities. The exiled party will be permitted to take any number of subjects with them, along with any supplies they require. But I warn you, if I win, upon your exile, any subjects that remain behind will be expected to swear fealty to me.

Regards,

Lord Simon

"When did this arrive?" she asked, once she'd finished.

"It hasn't yet."

Cassius raised an eyebrow, "Uh, you're gonna need to explain that one, bud."

Expecting precisely this question, I withdrew one of the capsules from my pocket and tossed it to him.

He caught it easily and turned it over in his hands, "Americium? This from a smoke detector?"

I nodded, "I figured it out back in the city. Radioactive materials, or Americium at the very least, contain Time mana."

"It's how the warding amulets work," Amity provided, "It's why Wally came up with the idea in the first place. When another spellcaster tries to use magic to rearrange your organs, the amulet peeks a second into the future to see what they'll do and matches it with an exactly opposite force."

"And you had to fuck with time to make that happen?"

"Yeah, if you don't get the counter exactly right, then sure, you stop their spell, but you just end up hurting yourself in a slightly different way."

"Okay, sure, Time mana. I’m sitting at a table with a robo lady and a talking cat, so why not? But there's less than a microgram here, I can’t imagine you can do much with this. Is that why you've been sticking to enchantments?"

"Yeah. Either I can make an entire warding amulet, or I can take a peek into the future. -A future," I corrected, “Most of the time something permanent is going to be the better choice.”

Phoebe could hardly contain herself and was all but leaping out of her chair, "How much do you see? How accurate is the vision?"

"A few moments," I replied, "One of these capsules is good for thirty seconds, maybe a bit less. And as far as I can tell, it's one hundred percent accurate, to your specific question."

Constance waved the sheet, "And for this?"

"I asked- well, maybe ask is the wrong word, but it gets the point across -I asked what Simon's next message would be, assuming I sent him nothing to prompt a response. This was what I saw in the vision, and I copied it down. The only thing I didn't capture was the handwriting. It was a bit of a mess."

Constance glanced at the sheet and raised her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, "Worse than mine. It wasn't Simon's hand, at the very least, I think he dictated it to one of his girls."

"You know, I never got the chance to talk to this guy, but this doesn't sound like the way a normal American dude is gonna talk," Cassius noted, "I regret it has become clear?" he recited, "You’re right, this does sound like some bullshit to me."

"And the deal doesn't make any sense," I added, "Without this, the balance of power is strongly in his favour. We can maybe hold the hotel against the people he's got checking out the city, but that's it. On the other hand, if we're fighting this thing with kid gloves, then it swings totally the other way."

"Are you certain of that?" Phoebe asked, "He has perhaps ten-fold as many people as we do, if not more. He may still overwhelm us with sheer numbers."

I jerked my chin at Regina, "Try to stop her without killing her. Try to stop Amity or me without killing either of us."

Cassius nodded, "I've seen Wally fight. Dude's a fucking tank. Simon might not know about your funky time amulet or the tattoos, but he's got to know about you, Amity, and Regina."

"Regina might be a surprise, but he knows of Amity at the very least, and I don't know how he expects his girls to stop a gynoid that doesn't sleep or get tired."

"Perhaps he thinks he can win despite the handicap," Constance suggested, "He might be more concerned with you breaking his toys. Besides, I do not imagine this will make for an easy victory, only an easier victory."

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"Are we even in the three cities, or whatever they're called?" Amora asked, speaking for the first time, "Say you guys lose, couldn't you just hang here?"

"It's definitely an oversight in the wording," I agreed, "But I doubt it would matter. Simon will be in a position to dictate terms if he wins, and it's not like he's going to let us get by on a technicality."

"Perhaps there is a game here we do not recognize," Constance allowed, "But if Simon intends to keep his end of the bargain, then why not accept? Use the remaining capsules to prepare an amulet for each of us. Between those and the tattoos you have so graciously enchanted, we could hardly be better equipped for this sort of engagement."

"Yeah, got to agree with that," Cassius put in, "I don't want to kill anyone, let alone a bunch of girls that Simon's done some fucky mind control shit too. I say we accept his offer- once he actually sends it -and get to work preparing defences so we’re ready when his people in the city realize you're not there and turn around."

"Hold on," Phoebe cautioned, taking the capsule from Cassius's hand, "How many of these remain? Are we certain we wish to use all of them for something so mundane?"

"Mundane?" I asked, "With that I can give you near-immunity to enemy magic. Short of throwing something at you, there’s not a ton they’ll be able to do. I bet most of the people who were here fiddling with magic since the beginning can’t do any better. And we'd still have the smoke detectors here in the hotel.”

"You've discovered a way to manipulate time," Phoebe urged, "Why not go back and prevent Simon from ever becoming as powerful as this, or appear to yourself when you first arrived and warn yourself of what will happen."

Cassius grimaced, "I don't know Fee, fucking with time does not sound like a good idea."

"Even if we wanted to, and I'm not sure that we do, it's just not possible. We don't have anywhere near enough Time mana. Magic seems to give a pretty good conversion rate for mass to energy, but in theory, travelling backwards in time should take infinite energy. And even if it doesn't, I'm willing to bet it's based on mass. Not only do we not have enough mana to send any of us back, we don't even have the mana to test what's possible."

"Well," Cassius hedged.

"No."

"Come on,” he urged, “There's got to be tons of the stuff under that spike field you told me about, and when I say tons, I don’t just mean a lot."

"No. Even with all the safety and monitoring gear in the world- which we don't have -it would be risky as fuck to try it. Not to mention it's probably buried under a mile of concrete. We could contaminate a good chunk of the world if we're not careful, and for what? The chance to learn whether or not we can screw up causality? We're going to flirt with doomsday so we get the chance at a different doomsday? Fuck. That."

Cassius raised his hands in surrender, "Alright, alright. But if we can use this stuff to look into the future..."

"Figure out a magic replacement for our smoke detectors, and we can strip them all. I don't want to go using it all against Simon," I cautioned, "We have no idea when we'll get more. This might be it for years, but you’re right, I want to have the option if we need it."

"I'll figure something out," he promised.

"And the rest of us?" Phoebe asked.

"Prep for a fight. And I want the surrounding terrain scouted every morning. We don't know when this letter will show up or how soon Simon's girls will attack. But when it does come, I want to have the lay of the land."

"Gatehouse is done, but we're gonna need walls around the rest of the place, even if it's just some crenelations so we’ve got somewhere to take cover," Cassius pointed out.

"I remember enough from helping with the gatehouse," Phoebe assured him, "I can get the others started while you work on the smoke detectors for Wallace."

"And I'll keep everyone fed," Amity promised.

That got a response from all of us, as we talked over each other to thank the ever-helpful gynoid.

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I stopped upstairs briefly as I explored the idea of a Strengthen Earth spell to save us the bother of blocking up all the windows. Resolving that it probably was worth the trouble, I headed back down to check on the other preparations and gather the requisite mana.

I rode the elevator down, busying my mind with an estimate of how many windows there were and how much mana I’d need. I was still pondering the exact conversion rate of stone to mana to strengthened glass when I walked outside and into the midst of an argument.

I stopped under the portico, its pillars framing Constance and Valentine as they stood over the wreckage of the piano.

"You are in no position to instruct me to do anything. Wallace was quite clear. We are each responsible for our own areas," Valentine was saying, "I shall handle my own business, and you yours."

"And this is my business?" Constance asked lightly, nodding towards the mess.

"Obviously."

I stepped behind one of the pillars that supported the portico. It wasn’t the best hiding spot. While either of them likely would have noticed me had they looked in this direction, the pillar was enough to hide me from their casual notice. I leaned against it, listening to the exchange with a faint smile.

"Well, as you are so eager to point out, keeping the fortress tidy is my business. And as the person in charge of such matters, I'm telling you to gather up this mess and cart it away."

“This is hardly worth my time. I have other matters to attend to,” Valentine retorted.

I supposed that might be true if she was going to help Phoebe with the wall, but I doubted I was the only one who thought it a weak response.

"Isn't it? What area of the fortress are you responsible for, I wonder?"

"I assist Wallace with magic-related matters," Valentine protested, "This is not a magic-related matter."

"Unfortunately, I'm not so lucky as to spend my evenings 'assisting' Wallace. But I am in charge of cleaning up afterwards, and as the one in charge, I believe it's entirely reasonable to have the person who made the mess clean it up afterwards."

"Jealous," Valentine accused.

"Both our roles require spending a great deal of time on hands and knees, so I'm not certain there's much difference."

I put a hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh. It was clear Constance was getting used to the new state of affairs. I doubt she would have said anything like that to Val even a few weeks ago.

And it wasn't as if Constance didn't have a point. What did Val do beyond filling in the odd detail I was missing when it came to magic? If Constance and the others were working this hard, how was it fair for me to let Val off the hook?

"Oh, Y-You" Val stammered, speechless with indignation.

I stepped out from behind the pillar with my hands in my pockets, "Alright, simmer down. I was hoping for a little reconciliation between you two. Let's not screw it up now."

Val jabbed a finger at Constance, "Did you hear what she said?"

"Yeah," I shrugged, "I also heard her entirely reasonable suggestion that you should clean up after yourself."

"My time is better spent helping you," she insisted.

"Val, come on. You heard me tell the others how things would be run going forwards. Hell, you heard it twice. None of us get special treatment. The best way to minimize the amount of sucky work that needs doing is to have us all take a small piece. So while I walk around collecting rocks so I can cast some spells, you're going to stay here and help Constance. And you'll start by cleaning up the piano."

"I- I-"

"Oh, don't forget to separate the metal from the wood. We'll want it for enchanting later," Constance added.

"And once you're done, you'll help Constance with whatever else she's got going on."

Val stood stiffly, with her head bowed and the tips of her ears aflame.

"This is not fair," she said weakly.

I spread my arms, "This is totally fair," I grinned, "You didn't want to be a noble anymore, welcome to not being a noble! I hope you enjoy your ignoble task. I'm gonna go work on my rock collection. Have fun, you two."

I walked away without another word, but stole a glance back once I'd made some distance. Constance had stepped away, and I appreciated she was a big enough person not to rub it in. That left Val standing by the pile, and as I watched, she slowly began to move, gingerly picking up a bit of splintered wood. She looked as if she didn't know what to do with it, and even at this distance, I could see she was still flushed bright purple.

God. I hope Constance isn't too hard on her. Otherwise, Val's gonna be a handful when I get her back tonight.