26
The device looked like pictures I had seen of laptops. When I asked, Travis assured me that this device was not so elaborate.
"It plays the discs on this screen," he explained. "Near as I can tell, the device is fully charged. All that is required is to press Play."
I nodded my understanding, assured that everyone was present, and then nodded for him to do so.
The screen turned a bold blue, and then turned black when a whirling sound began. We watched, held fast by anticipation.
Then light, a room. The sound of a voice clearing and a woman’s face. Pale, and slightly odd though the oddity was not easy to discern.
"You all seem to take your names from the myths of your kind," she said. "My kind have no myths to rob. My kind is born dead. Dead to you. Left at the edges of the wastes. Given to the elements <bah!> The elements. You mean the animals, right?
"So you may address me as Queen May, as in May you live and May you die. I’ve demonstrated that I can launch an attack already that will drown your Kind, and your soldiers in the earth and stench. I have the sea, I have the land. Hundreds of my kind are in the earth around you. Your people only travel at my whim, or their peril. Say Mother May I and I might let you live.
"You hunt my kind, you slaughter without hesitation. You mow them down as if they are dead already, even knowing that they are not. Well, no more. Queens such as myself lead them now. Queens with minds that gather them together, and march them along.
"I’ve enjoyed your festivities in the face of yesterday’s engagement. I watched with strong interest at how you nearly lost all, and then thanked your invisible friend for bringing them safe to home. All very entertaining.
"The terms are simple. One third of your sheep, one fourth of your boars, one half of your wine, and one fourth of your fish. Each year. Every year. Or hell comes for breakfast."
The screen turned black.
My fingers drummed the arm of the chair I sat in. Remaining seated was difficult. I wanted to scratch her out of that screen and rip her face to shreds.
When my voice felt under control, I said, "Comments?"
"We’re not insane," Adian said, and leaned back in his chair, making it look like it was made for his body. "There really is someone out to get us."
"True," Karal said. "A bit underwhelming at this point though."
Iris turned to look at the map on the table. "She takes credit for the ships, and the forests. She said travel was under her control, so that means at least some of the road ways are infested with zombies."
"She takes credit as if she has. succeeded," Mark put in. "As if any of her attacks landed home as they were meant to. Now that we are clear that these were attacks, what has she accomplished?"
"The road ways, they’re a legitimate success, Mark," Iris said. "We did see yesterday how our strongest were led into ambush and without serious support, would have failed to return. How do we send those here for festival home with any degree of safety?"
"What about the claim of wrong doing?" Doctor Alexis asked. "Is that claim worth discussing?"
"No doctor, it’s not," I said, and stood, walking to the table where the device sat. "If she has control of them, and meant for them to live better she could have fished or planted or hunted or gathered. She could have sent messages. Asked for meetings. Instead she came here to take and threaten and kill. It is the action I am concerned with not the philosophy of what is life and what is sentient. We, this realm, has never attacked outside our borders, and will not do so — at least I foresee no reason that could draw me out."
"She said, she could see the festival," Fenrir said.
I turned to his voice. "Yes?"
"There is only one place," he said. "Only one place where she could see over the walls."
"Marduke hill," Adian answered. "She has to be there."
"And what does that do?" Iris asked. "She controls them. The ones buried in the forest, and along the roads. What happens if she goes down? If she dies? Do they rise at once? Only when they’re hungry?"
"When someone passes close by?" Karal suggested.
"Along with the guard, we have hundreds of able body men inside the walls, and not a few women, my’Lady. We could ride out and meet them," Marcus said.
That would be my mother’s answer. Yes. Ride out in front of it all wearing her shine and armor. Warrior Queen. Savior. Mother.
My nails staccatoed frustration at the lack of action. My lack of action. My lack of decision. Was she never going to stop squealing like a stuck boar in my head!?
My fingers stopped, hovering over the table top. Closing my fist with care, I walked back to my chair and turned.
"Fenrir? You are not bound to me, but for the day, will you consent to be my Wolf of Destruction?"
Fenrir studied me, and then nodded. "Yes, my Queen, for the day. I will."
"Karal? How many boars, the breed we use to clear the forest areas of underbrush, how many can you get here in two hours?"
"A herd of perhaps a hundred. We have five hundred available at the villages. A herd was brought in two days ago, about to be loosed into the south greenbelt."
Looking to Alexis, "Doctor, you have two hours to get blood samples from those pigs. I read once that heart transplants before the Fall, used pig’s hearts. The blood must be similar, don’t you think?"
"Víðarr?" I asked turning to him, "her blood samples will need to be cataloged to be of any use. Can you make brass tags for boar ears, so she has a clear record?"
"I can and will," he said. "Come doctor, we have pigs to tag."
"Um, yes, sure. But..." she stammered.
"It will be clear soon, doctor." I told her. "Karal, bring the pigs and send for the others. Call out for the farmers inside the walls. Send them with Kind and soldiers. Both. I want every snout available for cleansing."
"Marcus, as soon as that first herd is here, and tagged, I want them driven into green belts, one after the other. Use the skills of the farmers. Ask advice. You’re not going to learn a lifetime of pig herding in a few hours, but try to be informed for your safety. Across the green, and across the roads. Let them spread out, but keep them moving forward." I told him.
"My’Lady, that’s sure to rise the zombies," he said.
"Of course it will," I told him, looking to Fenrir. "There’s a secret to hunting wild boar. And I doubt the zombies know it. They’ll attack the pigs, the pigs will squeal in pain and alarm, then the herd will attack the zombies. They’ll root them out of the ground, find where they are buried and force them to the surface. Their sense of smell exceeds the Kind. Make sure you have distance when that happens, Marcus. I’m told it is a rough sight to see. The trample power of a two hundred kilo boar is not to be taken lightly."
"Yes, my’Lady," he said, then bowed, and hurried out of the door.
I sat down. "Now, Fenrir? Would you please take Adian, and go kill that bitch for me?"
"Fenrir bowed. "It would be my pleasure." Then he left me.