Book 2 C 2

We arrived tired back at the Keep to a Hero's welcome. We had radio'd ahead that the Drow threat had been eliminated. People had lined the walls waiting in anticipation for us to arrive and began to cheer wildly as they saw us arrive. It felt good and odd at the same time to me. We waved to the masses gathered and smiled. All returned home safe. Home huh? This is now our home.......it feels good.

As we enter thru the gate we are greeted by back slaps and pats.

“Good Job Soldiers!”

“Good to see you back Home safely!”

“You fucked those Drow up good! Hahaha!”

“Hoooray!”

Came many calls from everywhere.

Scott? Julie?

I hear her, Cindy calling

Wait Cindy! I will be right there!

We are coming dear sister!

I break into a run, dashing thru the crowds of people, they looking confused, Julie and Ki'Diera on my heels as they heard her too. Her thoughts are a jumbled mess, trying to formulate a sentence, she is in a panic'ed state right now.

I run to the Infirmary in seconds, almost crashing thru the door.” Cindy!” I cry out. I see Doc Snow trying to talk to Cindy, but she is ignoring or can not hear him, it seems.

Cindy is sitting in the bed looking about her wildly, her eyes wide open with panic. I rush forward and grab hold of her, holding her tight to me “ shhhh honey you are ok, it is me Scott, you are safe, calm down honey.”

Julie joins and puts her hand on Cindy's back rubbing it, “ We are here sister, you are ok”

“Scott?.........Julie?......” is all Cindy can mutter as tears begin to fall.

“Yes Honey, we are here, you are safe”, I say to her in a calm voice and hold her tightly to me.

Slowly her arms reach about me and grab me tight, fiercely. The grip hurts a little, but I do not care, I let her hold me as tight as she wants to. I keep calling to her, “We are here, you are safe”

It takes almost 5 full minutes for her to register everything. She slowly lets go of me “ I am alright now” She says quietly.

I pull back as well and look her in the eyes, the tears are slowly rolling down her face.

“Cindy? Are you ok?” I ask her slowly.

She nods wiping away the tears from her eyes. I see the ring is still glowing lightly on her finger as she wipes away the tears.

“Yeah, I do not know why I panic'ed like that, I just felt scared and alone for some reason.” she says in quiet voice.

“We are here with you Cindy, you are not alone”, I say to her soothingly

“I can feel you in me Scott, and Julie too, even Ki'Diera........it feels good.” Cindy says putting her hand to her heart.

“I was able to establish a Soul Link with you, that is what you feel now.” I say to her softly.

She looks at me in a confused look.”how? When?......”

“You have been out for six days sister” Julie says.

“Six days?” Cindy asks in disbelief.

I slowly tell her all that happened from the time the Drow tried to stab her with the sword till now. I include the events of the Soul Link and her calling out to me in her with her mind.

“I ...I do not remember that” She says slowly staring off into nothing trying to recall something.

“It is ok if you do not remember, all that matters is you are awake now.” I say to her.

“If it is ok with you, I want to check your vitals Cindy” Doc Snow now speaks up seeing her calmed down.

Cindy nods, and the Doc begins his examination. We watch in silence to let him do his check up, he then holds his hand over her lower abdomen area and his hand glows lightly green . Then he pulls back, “well just like Ki'Diera and Julie, she is fine, but just to be safe lets keep her here one more day to make sure shall we?”

“Sure thing Doc”, I nod and say to him, while Cindy nods, slowly agreeing.

“The baby?” Cindy asks quickly a slight panic in her eyes again,

“It is fine, from what I can tell, no harm came to it. With my magic I can feel it's presence and it seems fine.” Doc Snow says reassuringly.

Cindy lays back into her bed, relief comes over her face and she relaxes.” That is good to hear, I felt the baby was in danger and I had to protect it at all costs for some reason”. She says softly, then drifts off back to sleep.

“Doc?” I ask

“She is sleeping again, she must have been under great mental stress and it exhausted her” He replies calmly and smiles.”It looks like she will be fine now, just let her rest some more.”

We all nod, I go to take a chair to be here for her when she wakes up, Julie and Ki'Diera too take a chair.

Scott, did you hear, she was worried the baby was in danger

Lets not use the mind link so we do not accidentally wake her ok?

I get up and pace a bit, nervous still. Julie gets up and grabs my hand and leads me out of the infirmary.

“Julie?” I ask

“She is sleeping right now and you need to eat dinner, to keep up your own strength, maybe have a beer to relax ok?” Julie says softly

I nod reluctantly and let he lead me.

Ki'Diera is with us and we all head for the Cafeteria for dinner to grab a bite. Not many are here, which is odd, but I do not pay it much attention and eat with Julie and Ki'Diera. We talk a little during our meal, mostly about how Cindy is going to freak out when she sees the new bedroom and bed. Then I remember the dream for some reason. The Royal chambers where the births were being held. The room, it was........ it was.........different. What does that mean?

Which room Scott?

The ones you three gave birth in was the Royal chambers, it was different from what is it now.

Do we have another room maybe the Builders are making?

It is hard not to use this isn't it........

We all grew silent, forgetting we want to keep from using the Mind Link so as not to wake Cindy.

“I am going to check and see if the Builders are making another room”. I say about to get up.

“But Scott you also said it was on the fifth floor of a Fortress, our room is on the second floor now.” Julie says putting her hand on my arm.

“So If I do not build the fortress before the births.......” I say out loud thinking.

“Then that room might not exist.” Ki'Diera replies.

We all sit in silence in thought.

“I think we are worrying too much right now, let's worry about Cindy right now.” Julie says looking at Ki'Diera and then me.

“You are right,” I say to her.”you are absolutely right.”

I go and grab a beer from the cooler station by the assembly line and hear loud noises coming from outside” what is going on out there?”

Julie and Ki'Diera heard it too and walk towards the exit, I follow them. We walk outside into the courtyard and see three of the Builders in front of the scrap metal glowing. There is a pulse and a pile of gold bars appear. The people made a line and are handing one gold bar from one person to the next to stack them in place. There are already 8 stacks of gold bars. I walk to the stacks and count the top layer and it is 20 by 20 bars. Then look and see one stack is 20 bars high.

Another Builder approaches me, “(each bar is 250 gold coins worth.)” He smiles to me.

“(That is alot of gold......)”, I say almost speechless.

“(This should ensure your future upgrades and any other unforeseen event, We hope you enjoy it, as you have given us a new found joy with communication)” He thinks, holding up one of the bracelets on his arm.

I look at the bracelet on his arm, of course, they can use them too, that Rick haha good man!!

“(Thank you for everything, you have helped my people in more ways than you can imagine with this)” I say to and bow.

“(No, we thank you Scott Smith!, we can replicate this as well, with our transformation magics and give our people a way to communicate in the future, you have revolutionized our people Scott Smith, this is but a small pittance of our thanks)” he thinks, his voice is filled with joy in my head.

“(We should be able to make about 30 stacks total from what is here, if you need more simply ask, we will do it gladly, what you gave us is priceless and can never be repaid)” He thinks, then he bows to me”(your majesty, you are truly a King)”

We part ways as I watch the ongoing progress as another stack is filled up. Julie and Ki'Diera stare in awe at the stacks of gleaming gold in the light of the evening flood lights. The baseball, football, and soccer field flood lights had been moved and rearranged to cover the walls and courtyards. The night lights from the School's former parking lots had also been moved around to cover more area. The entire area has been lit up well.

Rick and Alexander approach us” Now our money issues are gone huh?” Rick asks with a smile.

“All thanks to you,” I say to him smiling.

“Me? why me?” Rick asks confused.

“You gave them those bracelets” I said.

“It was not me, I gave them to Patterson to hand out.” I says scratching the back of his neck.

We all look at one another and begin to laugh out loud, Ki'Diera and Alexander do not get the joke.

“Oh that man, thank god for him huh?” I say to Rick.

“Yeah Like I said, good man, but you have to be very specific in the orders, guess when I told him to hand out the bracelets by priority of our needs, I even told him to give them to all our guards including the Ny'Har'en first who did not have one, he must have gave them to the builders after” Rick laughs.

“So I need to make more of them, no matter, I will make another batch of them then.” I say still laughing.

We snicker when we see Patterson walking around and talking with is comrades oblivious to our laughs and admiration for him.

I look at the stacks of gold, then open the Kingdom window and begin to deposit it into the treasury one stack at a time. The count goes up and up. My smile gets bigger and bigger each time the number grows. As the Builders finish the last stack, the crowd cheers them! All the cars, metal and junk piles are gone. I deposit the last stack, 33 total into the Treasury. Final gold count 66 million gold coins! This should last us a long long time, I hope!

“Alright then, lets do some upgrades!” I yell out loud to the gathered crowd. “ I am formally putting in a rush job of 12 days”. I say

KINGDOM NOTICE!You have opted for a rush job on your current upgrade

You have selected 12 days

Cost will be 24 thousand gold.

Do you accept yes or no?

“Yes” I tell loudly

KINGDOM NOTICE!24 thousand gold has been deducted from your Treasury,

12 Days reduction in upgrade will now commence

Lights appear everywhere, hundred upon hundreds of them. We see Builders everywhere. As they appear the crowd cheers again as the Builders start to move to work, but are stopped by the current Builders. They all gather together, a glow appears on a few arms as the bracelet is copied and placed on each new builder. Smiles begin to appear on hundreds of faces as each get a bracelet of their own.

Once the last receives a bracelet, with an eagerness not seen before, the Builders attack the Keep in force. Lines of Builders are outside as they stand side by side and start to glow their hands outstretched, some appear on the roof and stand in lines and glow as well.

We rush inside and see Builders everywhere, all with hands outstretched and glowing facing the walls or up at the ceiling and even the floor.

At least 3 builders are in each room doing the same. One approaches me,”(The upgrade will be done in under 12 hours, my people have been motivated to do it faster, after that, you can order your new upgrades, make sure to do walls and towers first before your Keep, to save money)” He smiles to me thinking then bows and walks away.

I look at my watch, and see it is now 7:30 pm. So by morning this will all be done?

“Did you hear him?” I ask Rick and the rest who are with me. All nod, even Alexander has a bracelet and nods too.

“So by morning all this will be done.......” Rick says slowly letting it sink in.

Bre'Tirgan comes to see us. “Father isn't it wonderful? Tomorrow morning this will all be finished!” Ki'Diera exclaims rushing to hug him.

Bre'Tirgan replies with a surprised look “Tomorrow?”.

“yes and then we can start the next upgrades, and then each day after, the next. Now we need people!” I say to all present “Someone fetch Corporal Stinson! Quickly!” I demand remembering then he had the Ham Base Station.

Guards rush out to find him in a hurry.

“Scott?” Rick and Julie ask at the same time.

“He has the Ham Radio Base Station, hopefully with it, we can find more survivors and add to our community.” I say to them giving the reason for the summons.

An out of breath Stinson arrives accompanied by two Regular Guards shortly after, “Master Gunnery Sergeant, Coprpral Stinson reporting as ordered!” he says quickly.

“Corporal Stinson where is the Ham Radio station?” I ask him

“We already set it up Master Gunnery Sergeant!, Staff Sergeant Foster is on it now trying to make contact with anyone out there.” He replies a slow smile creeps onto his face.

“Good man, show me where it is set up” I say to him.

He then leads us all outside to a Tent by the corner of the North and West walls. He explains they set it up here for better reception, the antenna is on top of the nearby Watch Tower. We enter the tent and see a table is set up with several chairs, most of the Super Soldiers are in here watching Staff Sergeant Foster at work

“This is Kopeke New Mexico calling to any survivors, can you read me, over!” Foster is now saying into the mic.

Everyone sees us enter and all are smiles,” We got it up and running as soon as we arrived. Ran cable and mounted the antenna even added a booster to it.” Sgt 1st Class Montgomery says proudly.

“Good job everyone, lets hope they are out there and can hear us.” I say, hoping someone, anyone will answer the call.

“This is Kopeke New Mexico calling to any survivors, can you read me, over!” Foster is now saying again into the mic.

“I change channels after 3 tries, so far nothing, but unlike us most are probably without power.” Foster says looking to me after the last transmission.

“Yeah that is why I wanted several stations, so we can monitor more channels, keep trying tho, and I want this station manned 24-7.” I say.

All nod with determined looks

“Kopeka, New Mexico, this is Farmington, New Mexico, can you hear us?” a voice calls, it is full of static.

Foster jumps and quickly answers,” Farmington this is Kopeka we hear you loud and clear!”

“Kopeka, We are in dire need of help”, answer the voice “ we are barely holding on here....” static takes over.

“Farmington we lost you can you repeat?” Foster says ino the mic.

“Monsters ....every............. send help...Mall in Far...” the voice breaks off static is only heard now.

I look at my watch, it is now after 8 pm, it is dark outside. “Gear up we are going to Farmington!” I yell, after making my decision.