Sorry for the long delay but I was under the weather. If you spot any mistakes please leave a comment. For any of you that are following Swamp Boy, I need some names for two oceans and two continents.

After much encouragement, if not outright criticism, I am putting in indicators ( ------ ) for changes in character or point of view. Please leave a comment whether you like that sort of thing or not, and how my implementation works for you. Personally I don’t like P.O.V. indicators since they distract me from the story but I’m giving it a shot.

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Chapter 18: Monkey Pile

People in the Stronghold were learning how to use their magic. As for myself, I was magically stagnating because I was spending almost all of my time enchanting things or working on various construction projects. I know those magical endeavors were causing my magical energy reserves to increase but equally as a result I was learning hardly anything that was new to me and I found that to be EXTREMELY frustrating. I also desired to see my grandchildren but I had been in such a foul mood lately that I had been putting it off; they didn’t deserve to have me inflicted upon them.

I know that most of my close associates have enthusiastically embraced their magical skills and are diligently practicing with them. For example, Glen and Star Astrologer both have Teleportation Magic. They can’t teleport very far as of yet but it’s certainly a really cool ability to have. Glen is like a kid in a candy store whereas Star tries to pretend like she’s this knowledgeable and supremely mature adult but I’ve caught her twirling around like a ballerina and giggling like a child after a successful teleport. Macallister has Light and Darkness Magic, and he dreams of being able to create a laser beam with it one day but the best he can produce right now is a beam with the power of an automobile headlight. Faith Harper has the same ability but she’s been concentrating on her Telekinesis skill. Jennifer has been studying her Healing talent but Levitation is another of her abilities, I think we should tie a string on her and use her like a party balloon; her kids think that’s a great idea but so far Jennifer hasn’t let us do it yet. My Stronghold is turning into a mad magical place and I feel like I’m being left behind or losing my edge.

I was doing some more boring things yet again. I was busy expanding the underground portion of the Stronghold. It was far easier for me to create living quarters beneath the earth than above. The Stronghold’s new dungeon areas have definitely relieved our housing problems, though we were now having difficulties with sanitation and sewage.

To resolve those problems, Mack is supervising the construction of bathroom and bathing facilities on the surface but things are a trifle inconvenient for now. While we will eventually install some toilets and such in our “dungeon” complex, our new subterranean residents will be encouraged to use them as infrequently as possible since those bathrooms necessitate the use of sewage pumps. Waste water and muck have to be pumped up to the septic tanks and the Stronghold’s new sewage treatment facility. Our alchemists under the direction of Lady Isabella Gomez and Sir Blender Apothecary have begun to recover potassium nitrate and plant nutrients from that yucky stinky stuff. I really should figure out some way that I can help them before they quit their jobs out of sheer disgust. As I was taking a breather from making more underground chambers, I heard some footsteps coming down the tunnel from behind me. I turned to look and see who was coming.

“Hey Steve, how are you doing today? No problems I hope.” He was walking towards me along with his ex-wife, Barbara.

“Just the usual headaches; Vince, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and have you knight me so as to awaken my talents. Is that okay with you and is this a good time to do it?”

“You know it is okay with me Steve, so long as you’re happy with your decision.”

He got down on one knee before me. “Your Majesty, I Stephen Monet do faithfully swear to serve you, in these perilous times, to defend your lands and to protect those sentient beings who peacefully reside upon them, so long as they obey your laws and orders.”

I touched his right shoulder and then I placed my hand on his left shoulder. “I accept your oath and I dub thee Sir Stephen Monet and I reconfirm your role as my Minister of Logistics and this Stronghold’s Castellan, may you serve long and honorably.”

DING

Sir Stephen Monet for being such an idiot, as to swear such an oath, to the Moron and Supreme Asshole Vincent Standish; OUCH, WHY ARE YOU HITTING ME?!!”

Seconds pass……….

More seconds pass………

Steve was looking rather worried. I was thinking as powerfully as I could to whoever it was, to hit that particular System Commentator one more time for me. Too many people thought of the DDS as being all wise, all seeing, all knowing and all powerful. I was convinced it was a bunch of bleary eyed underpaid drunks working in a cubicle farm, who ran something like our old national weather service and I remember all too well, the all too many times that our old weather service got things wrong.

As far as I could tell the DDS had a heck of an information gathering capability and I had abundant evidence that they could read minds too, when they felt like it, but mind reading doesn’t seem like that it’s something that they can do all of the time. The sheer volume of information would probably overwhelm them.

The DDS is obviously able to detect and evaluate the abilities that people have but any evaluator can be wrong so I don’t put a lot of credence in their statistics. The Ding-a-Ling System during its early days was almost purely a warning service but it hasn’t delivered any new warnings since the clock counted down or up to six hundred hours.

In regards to the Appraisal ability, that seems to be either a function of the DDS or a skill that has somehow been subconsciously trained or implanted into many of us, because those of us with the greatest Appraisal ability are still seeing screens of information but we also have invariably accurate hunches and emotional feelings about whatever we are trying to assess. Those people with minimal skill levels in Appraisal may only receive a screen containing the most basic information and sometimes not even that. It has also become apparent that only those people with the True Sight ability have the strongest and most reliable Appraisal skills.

The Translation ability seems to be a function of the Ding-Ding System and only some leaders get access to it, though the few telepaths we have might be able to do something similar once they improve their skills. I just got flash of green color it appears that the DDS is back online or at least in our heads again.

Sir Stephen Monet, for swearing such a powerful oath and having it accepted, by the Wise and Compassionate Hermit King Vincent Standish, you have been ennobled and granted the following skills and enhanced attributes to help you in fulfilling your duties. Betray your oath and you may lose all of your new gifts.

Healing Level One

Earth Magic Level One

Quick Thinking Level Six: When things go to hell and “quick thinking is required” your thoughts speed up by sixty percent.

+18 Percent Increase in Dexterity.

+53 Percent Faster Reflexes.

+17 Percent Increase in Stamina.

+6 Percent Faster Healing Rate.

2.9x Telescopic Vision

1.8x Scent/Odor Detection

Everybody else gets physical enhancements but me. I ought to complain to the Hermit’s Union but we don’t meet that often, I think the next meeting is in the Himalayas in the year 2050. Steve stood back up.

“Boss, does the DDS talk to you like that all of the time?”

“Only about half of the time; it sort of depends on whose work shift it is and if they are sober or not. I can sort of sense when there is a change in the person or entity that is communicating with me.”

Steve looked at me wide-eyed for about a minute. After which, he shook his head as if trying to get some unpleasant thoughts out of his brain and then he spoke about an entirely different topic. “Vince can you please awaken Barbara as well? I think of her as the last line of defense for our children. I’d appreciate whatever combat edge you can give her.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “If that’s what you want Steve. You are one of the most important people here and I’ve got to do my best to keep you happy because I sure as hell don’t want your job. Remember you can only quit after everybody else is gone and the Stronghold is empty.” He nodded his head to me and Barbara walked up to kneel before both of us.

“Your Majesty, I Barbara Harris Monet do faithfully swear to serve you, in these perilous times, to defend your lands and to protect those sentient beings who peacefully reside upon them, so long as they obey your laws and orders.

In addition, I Barbara Harris Monet, take you, Stephen Monet, to be my mate. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you for the remainder of my life. I will furthermore promise to undo as best as I can, all the damage and hurt that I have caused you and our children.”

I touched her right shoulder and then rested my hand on her left shoulder. “I accept your oath to me, may you serve long and honorably. As for your oath to my Castellan you must speak with him.”

I looked over at Steve, who didn’t look exactly happy. Actually he looked a little pissed but after a moment, he nodded his head in acceptance and muttered “I accept.”

DING

Oh, isn’t that sweet. You may now kiss the bride. She promises to be good now. Listen here girl, you don’t know how close you came to getting a blue screen and you are still on the cusp. So you better not screw up.

Barbara Monet, for swearing such a powerful oath and having it accepted by the Hermit King Vincent Standish, you are now an oath sworn citizen of his Kingdom and granted the following skills and enhanced attributes to help you in fulfilling your duties. Betray your oaths to the Hermit King or his Castellan, Sir Stephen Monet, and you may lose all of your new gifts.

True Sight Level One

Fire Magic Level One

Teleportation Level One

Quick Thinking Level Two: When things go to hell and “quick thinking is required” your thoughts speed up by twenty percent.

+55 Percent Increase in Strength.

+59 Percent Increase in Dexterity.

+34 Percent Faster Reflexes.

+38 Percent Increase in Stamina.

Hearing is 1.3 times as acute.

Her physical enhancements made her monster and they were even greater than Steve’s! I was definitely going to file a grievance with my shop steward.

After awakening both Steve’s and Barbara’s talents, I was more than a little tired. I chased the two of them away so they could argue in private, while I went off in search of a comfortable chair.

What I got instead was Lady Faith who had a shy thirteen year old Melissa Kilmer standing timidly behind her. “Vincent, we are doing okay for the moment but in this messed up world we can’t count on our defenses being able to stop everything. Melissa is an orange screen. I know her grandfather was an S.O.B. and her father is a blue screen but despite those developmental handicaps, Melissa is growing up to be a good person in her own right. She’s been helping me on a daily basis, and to such a degree that she could almost be considered my squire or apprentice.

What will the Stronghold’s children do if some monster makes it past us adults? I think that we should alter how we do things and that on a case by case basis some of our youngest and wisest residents should have their abilities awakened. Many of them have already been receiving limited combat training from Captain Mesquida and the Hermit’s Guard. While it would be nice to let the kids have a pampered childhood, doing so only sets them up to be monster chow. Historically, children were treated very differently in Earth’s past and I think we should seriously considered returning to some of those old ways. Alexander the Great and Joan of Arc were leading armies when they were seventeen. I think that we either help our children to grow up as fast and as strong as they can or we risk them being killed and not being able to grow up at all.”

“Faith if you want her talents awakened, I’ll do it but she’ll be your responsibility and your squire. Is that something you can handle?”

“That fine with me Vincent. Melissa, go kneel before our King and don’t be afraid of him. While he is a rude, foulmouthed, obnoxious, and disheveled man; who frequently SAYS the wrong thing; you can always count on him TO DO exactly the right thing and nowadays that’s the only thing that truly matters. It also helps if you ignore the chicken feathers in his hair and his mismatched clothes. Additionally, never look at his feet, today he’s wearing one black sock and one white sock but at least his shoes match, unlike yesterday.”

Everybody is a fashion critic; I was wearing my grimy work clothes. It wasn’t like I was planning to pose for GQ magazine. Isabella and Jennifer also made disparaging comments about my attire this morning. I suddenly produced a jaw cracking yawn, I was exhausted from what I had done a short while ago and I had been tired before that from digging tunnels. But I guess I had enough left in the old gas tank to awaken Melissa, especially after that glowing evaluation that Faith had just given me, I wonder if I can turn my Minister of Justice into a frog? Melissa knelt before me, her eyes were very big and she looked a little scared.

“Your Ma-Ma-Majesty, I Me-Me-Melissa Ki-Kilmer do faithfully swear to serve you, in these pe-pe-perilous times, to de-de-defend your lands and to protect those sen-sen-sentient beings who peacefully reside upon them, so long as they obey your laws and co-co-commands.”

I gently touched her right shoulder and then I put my hand on her left shoulder. “I accept your oath and I dub thee Squire Melissa Kilmer, you are to take instruction and guidance from Lady Knight Faith Harper, my Minister of Justice. May you serve both she and my Kingdom, long and honorably.”

DING

Squire Melissa Kilmer, for swearing such a powerful oath and having it accepted by the Kindly Hermit King Vincent Standish, you have been granted the following skills and enhanced attributes to help you in fulfilling your duties to him, his Kingdom and Lady Knight Faith Harper. Betray your oath and you may lose all of your new gifts.

True Sight

Water Magic Level One

Light & Darkness Magic Level One

Telekinesis Level One

Quick Thinking Level One: When things go to hell and “quick thinking is required” your thoughts speed up by ten percent.

+36 Percent Increase in Strength.

+22 Percent Increase in Dexterity.

+59 Percent Faster Reflexes.

+32 Percent Increase in Stamina.

+ 9 Percent Faster Healing Rate.

2.1x Telescopic Vision

Hearing is 2.7 times as acute.

1.1x Scent/Odor Detection

“Congratulations Melissa, you are now a magical girl, just like Lady Knight Faith Harper who is your union steward. You gals have weekly meetings and really cool enchanted staffs that are able to shoot out magical rainbows, which carry streams of stars and heart shaped glowing symbols. I’ll let Faith tell you all about that stuff later on though; you have a good day and again my congratulations.

Melissa was still kneeling before me, her eyes had gotten really big and she was looking at me like I might be a crazy. How dare she doubt me! Of course I was bughouse nuts. I realized then that Melissa was rather unobservant which got me to wondering about her suitability as a squire but it was too late now. I was going to chase the two females off so I could take a nap when I noticed that Faith had a buckler riding on her right hip. “Faith, did you finally acquire that shield I told you to get so long ago?”

“Yep, Glen just got around to making it for me the other day. You know how busy he’s been. He made it out of thick aluminum, so it’s nice and light. It was his thought, that when you have a chance, that maybe you could enchant my new buckler the same way that you did for the Scorpion’s aluminum armor.” She held up the small round shield for me to look at.

The buckler looked like it had a diameter of about twelve inches and it had been painted to resemble the flag that my Council had designed for my Kingdom. Personally I thought the flag sucked, it was a little too much “kumbaya” for me. I wanted something that carried a message like “Fuck Off or Die,” but I got talked out of it. The top and bottom portions, of Faith’s small shield, were light blue and the middle band was white, in that band were drawings of three green figures, representing the three intelligent species living in Hermit’s Forge. There was black lettering on the buckler. Around the top rim it read “THE KINGDOM OF HERMIT’S FORGE;” above the white band it said “PEACE KEEPER AND JUDGE,” and beneath that band was printed, “LADY KNIGHT FAITH HARPER.” It looked serviceable but not very badass.

“Give it to me tonight and I’ll enchant it for you, Faith.” Maybe I’ll engrave a few alterations on the front too, like “We’ve Killed Hundreds of Enemies and You Can Be Next if You Mess with us!”

Faith smiled back at me and said “thanks.” I don’t think I’ll ask her about the literary improvements I plan on making to her shield, “it is better to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission.” The Knight and her new squire left shortly thereafter, Melissa had been looking rather dazed but I thought I heard her asking Faith if she could have a sword now, as they walked out my back door.

I wanted my bed and I smelled barbecue. Yesterday, Rich had been promising us a hog feast for today’s dinner and I was looking forward to it. My plan was to take an hour long nap, so as to recharge my batteries, and then to go out and pig out on pig. I was just walking past the front door of my home on the way to my bedroom, when I heard the steam whistle alarm go off, CRUD!

I grabbed my long arms and took off out the door, the sounds of screaming and gunfire filled me with dread. Looking towards the closest portion of the curtain wall, I saw what looked like a flood of small furry humanoids coming over the parapet by the front gate. My guts twisted up when I realized that any of our defenders that were on the wall there, were probably already dead or shortly would be. The damn creatures were hard to see, their coloring was a mix of white, gray and brown and they just blended into the wall and the winter landscape.

I ran out the gate of my private compound, yelling at someone who was standing nearby to close the gate behind me. After running about the length of a football field, I went to one knee and I started firing my rifle. I ended up missing at least half of the time, those monsters were too fast; and they were simply pouring down the stairway located next to the front gate. I emptied both of my four shot magazines and my three new ten shot magazines that Sean had recently fabricated for me. For some reason he had been extremely interested in my pump action rifle, so much so that I had loaned him the other Remington 7600 that I owned.

In this new battle I was conserving what little magical energy that I had left. I had been tired before I knighted Steve. I really should have told him to come back later at the time but I had gotten too complacent since the fortress walls had gone up. I had made my condition much worse by awakening Barbara and then Melissa; I can be such an idiot at times. Our new walls had easily stopped every foe since we had built them except for the flying monsters, like the bats and the owls. With my magazines empty, I switched to my shotgun and ran closer to the action. I did an appraisal on one of the beasts.

Mandrillus Rex, King Mandrills are extremely powerful and they have a gecko like ability to climb smooth surfaces. Males can weigh as much as 103 pounds and females can weigh up to 82 pounds. Both sexes, have pronounced canine teeth that are almost saber like. They are comfortable in cold climates with temperatures as low as minus four Fahrenheit, though they prefer warmer climes. Mandrill troops or societies can hold as many as 1300 members, though the more common size is approximately 200. These large monkeys instinctively cooperate as almost a hive like intelligence when they are defending their troop. The fur of a Mandrillus Rex, slowly changes color to match the season or their environment. King Mandrills are omnivorous and they will form large hunting packs to take down bigger prey. While their intelligence is unknown and subject to debate, they have been observed throwing rocks and using sticks against prey and enemies alike. Bloody conflicts between troops, resulting in numerous deaths, are a fairly common occurrence.

It was my understanding that monkeys were timed creatures that hardly ever attacked humans! Perhaps these new monsters came from a world where there were no humans or maybe Mandrillus Rex was the apex predator on their world? Whatever the answer, I was screwed.

I had out run everyone else; actually I think my semi-loyal subjects had been running the other way, towards the compound. I bet they had been expecting me to use a flame strike or two; well I fooled them, I didn’t have enough juice left to launch a flame strike. There was way over two hundred of those damn monkeys charging towards me. I didn’t know what to do, lately my emergency go-to weapon had been my Fire Magic but I was almost out of gas and my only loaded weapon was my revolver. I had barely enough magic left in me, for maybe one very brief flame burst and after that I would be lucky to remain conscious. My three most energy efficient and practiced magical skills were Earth Magic, Enchanting and Healing. Maybe I could make earth spikes shoot up from the ground but there was no way to properly target those screeching creatures. In desperation, I did the only thing that occurred to me since I only had seconds left. I knelt down and using my magic, I covered myself in small dome of earth and stone. It wasn’t the super hard compressed stone that I had been making but it was still harder than plain old dirt.

If anyone outside of my bunker saw it, they would probably say that it looked just like a big upside down mixing bowl. But screw those kinds of snobbish architectural critics because I had made my tiny sanctuary just in the nick of time. I had started creating my dome on the side facing my enemies and several of the creatures had run into my magical bowl of protection even before I had finished making it. I had incorporated firing slits into my blister style instant pillbox, so I could contribute to the battle. The slits turned out to be too big and too many of the creatures were able to force their arms inside, they had long claws too. Their arms were reaching inside even before I had drawn my revolver. I flopped, onto my back, kicking at their hands with my feet. I hurriedly willed the slits to narrow, and I shot a 410 shotgun shell at the mass of hands that were clawing at me.

DAMN IT! The bang from the gunshot had driven immaterial spikes into my ears; my mini-bunker had amplified the noise and possibly ruptured my eardrums. I had some foam earplugs in my shirt pocket but I hadn’t thought to put them in. Many of the monkey arms were trapped and the furious beasts were howling and screeching. I blocked my ear pain with a trickle of magic, dug out my earplugs, stuffed them in and resumed shooting. Maybe I should have utilized my knife, but it would have been difficult to safely use, what with my awkward physical position and the claws that were just a hair’s breadth away from my body. The earplugs helped but it was still damn loud firing my pistol. I emptied my revolver twice before I could safely return to a kneeling pose. Those intact or mostly intact monkey arms sticking into my pillbox of pain were looking pretty lifeless; I guess I had pinched them too well; maybe I had little more magical gas than I thought I had remaining. Oh well good things can happen, even to me.

I used the new bayonet that Metal Grinder had made for me. He was Lady Knight Night’s husband and now one of Glen’s shop crew. There had been a long and furious debate about the proper size of bayonet to issue the Hermit’s Guard. The standard in our old world was bayonet about seven inches in length. But that was when soldiers had automatic rifles and they fought only men. The Hermit’s Guard on the other hand specialized in fighting monsters. Still, many of our human soldiers thought that sticking with a seven inch bayonet was the best option. However, most of the flyers and the craft-makers thought that such a small blade was next to useless and only suitable as a dining implement. So to settle the argument, George and I had decided, that each Guardsman would be allowed to select their own bayonet but that the bayonet’s blade must be between seven and sixteen inches in length. Night Storm and Metal Grinder being advocates of the bigger is better philosophy had presented me with a fourteen inch bayonet that was absolutely gorgeous and I think made of true Damascus steel, apparently Metal Grinder knows the secret of creating that wonderful material. I know one thing my new bayonet is great at hacking off monkey arms.

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Storm Wind was emotionally devastated, it was his people’s job to be the Stronghold’s long range observers and somehow the local aerial patrol had failed to see a swarm of OVER A THOUSAND FLESH EATING LARGE MONKEYS! The gates had been closed but the mandrills had easily charged across the wide land bridge and then seemingly without any hindrance at all began to scale the smooth fortress walls.

Sir Wind had 8 flights in the air now and each flight contained four flyers. Six flights were dropping shells outside the Stronghold’s walls and two containing his most skilled flyers were dropping shells inside the walls but outside the compounds fence line. People were dying and it was his clan’s fault, Storm wanted to dive down into the monkeys and tear them apart with his own claws and talons as a way to make amends for what he saw as his own failure.

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Captain Mesquida cursed himself for being a fool. He had a bigger army now; and he could have had all of his armored vehicles standing ready except for the Priest and the C500 but no. He had decided to lower the readiness levels of the Guard because of the new wall. His stupidity had gotten soldiers killed and possibly even his own boss. He had heard from one of his soldiers how Vince had gone running out the front gate shortly after the alarm had been sounded and a hundred yards beyond the fence, there was for some reason a huge conglomeration of angry mandrills. George well knew that the Hermit King was a consummate master at pissing people off, so he suspected at the bottom of that monkey pile was the corpse of Vincent Standish. The Captain was thinking that after this monumental failure that he should probably turn over his job to Boris.

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I could hear the muffled whump sizzling noises that the explosive fire enchanted shells make when they strike something solid; at least someone is on the ball, unlike me. I was cautiously reopening a firing slit in my solitary sanctum.

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Lieutenant Murphy was inside a wooden bunker that was built on the wall walk located over the front gate. It was constructed of heavy logs and she blessed every one of them as monsters tried to break in, in an effort to get at her and the other three survivors. She was disgusted with herself; she had true sight, telescopic vision and she had even been looking down when the attack came but even so, she had failed to see the enemy until the very last minute. The mandrills’ natural camouflage was virtually perfect and what with their fast leaping ground speed, she hadn’t realized that they were there until they began climbing the Stronghold’s wall.

She knew one thing, the next time a strongpoint was built on the curtain wall; she would insist that it have smaller windows, even on the sides that faced the interior of the fortress. She carefully lined up her shot and her powerful Mark V rifle blew a hole through five of the monsters at once. She silently cursed; she had been hoping to beat her previous record of seven monkey kills with a single a bullet but four of the mangy fur ridden beasts had moved at the last millisecond. She wasn’t sure if the powerful .378 magnum bullet could shoot through nine mandrills, but the range was extremely short and it was a way to save ammunition which was rapidly running out. It also seemed to give the beasts pause whenever she was able to do that trick successfully. She had already exhausted half of her magic with flame bursts and flame strikes. She promised herself that if she lived through this that she would practice her magically abilities to the point of exhaustion every chance she got from now on. It had only been her magic that had saved them during the monkeys’ initial rush. She had seen the Hermit create flame strikes that had lasted for a minute or more and she wanted that same kind of ability.

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The T800 armored truck was outside the fence and in combat but the truck’s sharpshooters were not using the big 20mm rifles that the truck was equipped with, those guns were serious overkill for their current foe and slow to fire as well. Instead the sharpshooters were firing out the gun slits with their own personal weapons and when the occasion permitted, those who had the right abilities launched magical attacks at the screeching monkeys.

The Scorpion was also outside the compound’s fence line and the armored vehicle was doing its best to crush the mandrills beneath its treads and blow them apart with canister shot fired from its fifty millimeter cannon.

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Meanwhile Captain Mesquida was trapped inside the compound because he dared not open one of its gates so that the Hellcat could sortie. There were just too many of the mandrills pressing against the fence line. The fortress’s walls had failed to stop the monkeys but the razor wire at the top of the twelve foot fence was proving to be a serious deterrent to the hairy fiends, though a trickle were still making it over.

Guards were making careful almost point blank shots through the diamond mesh of the chain link fence or launching magical attacks. Those with Air Magic or Telekinesis were hindering the mandrill’s ability to climb the fence line. Sound Magic practitioners were screaming back at the monkeys, causing them to become disorientated. Light and Darkness magic users were blinding the beasts. The Captain had ordered those with Fire Magic to withhold their attacks since their spells might also damage the fence. He wasn’t pleased with that restriction himself since he had been diligently practicing his own Fire Magic.

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The C500 slowly trundled up with its armored trailer, its boiler had been cool and it had taken time for the big truck to get moving. Star Astrologer was riding on top of the massive trailer in order to get a better view of the battle. Ever since she was a child she had been receiving brief occasional visions of her people’s possible futures. Upon meeting the Hermit she had gotten another vision which seemed to indicate that the happiness and success of the craft-makers; was inextricably linked, at least for the next several years, with Vincent Standish. As he would have success, so shall the craft-makers and now that stupid human might have gotten himself killed. She strained her telepathic abilities to ascertain his location.

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This situation well and truly sucked! I was out of ammunition and I didn’t have enough magic in me to light a candle. Now the only thing that I could do was wait inside my tiny bunker and hope it held together while the mandrills pounded and clawed at it. The not so stupid monkeys were using some big rocks and large wooden sticks to increase the damage that they were doing to my dome of desperation.

Sure it had been great for a short while there until I had expended my last few remaining cartridges. I had wasted the bulk of my ammunition earlier, when I had first emptied my five magazines at the beginning of the battle. Now all I could do was watch for cracks to form in the compressed earthen walls of my tiny shelter.

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