half-hour or so, Judith tore into a heaping selection of meats, fruits,
bread and cheeses laid out on the table in Bal-Simba’s study while Moira,
Bal-Simba and Arianne filled her in. Then as she started to dawdle over
her food instead of wolfing it, she began to ask questions and contribute
information.
“You say you have pictures of some of these robots Craig and Mikey have
been producing?” she asked, polishing off another hunk of bread. “Can I
see them?”
In response Arianne gestured at the tabletop and a miniature tableau
sprang into existence among the bread crusts and fruit rinds. On a barren
landscape of red hills and sand perhaps a dozen metal creations were
locked in mortal combat.
“Well, what do you know?” Judith said wonderingly. “Warbots.”
“You recognize them?” Bal-Simba asked.
“I’ll say. That’s a Murderer. That one’s a Red Terror. That thing over
there is a Fer de Lance tank. And a couple of King Cobras. I don’t know
what that one is, but it looks like a Preying Mantis with a couple of
laser pods added.”
She looked up from the display. “They’re game pieces. Imaginary fighting
machines. Only it looks like the little shit’s made them real here.”
“They are real enough, Lady,” Arianne said.
Judith examined the display again. “I wish I had my rule books; then I
could tell you exactly what they’re capable of. But I can remember enough
to do pretty good without them.”
“They look powerful,” Juvian said dubiously.
Judith twisted her mouth to the side and rubbed her chin. “Well, yes and
no. They’re sure nothing to mess with, but they have a lot of weaknesses.”
Absently, she picked up a pear and bit into it.
“Look, I don’t know this Mikey, but I know Craig. I know how he thinks and
I know how he fights.” She wiped a dribble of juice off her chin and took
another big bite.
“When you do a long campaign with someone you get to know them pretty
well. Craig is not very original. That’s why we didn’t let him DM. He was
too predictable.”
“DM?” Juvian asked.
“Dungeon Master. The person who sets up the game. Anyway, Craig’s strictly
a by-the-book player and he expects everyone else to be the same way.” She
stopped talking, demolished the remaining pear in three bites and wiped
her chin before she went on.
“So maybe we can surprise them.” She grinned nastily. “In fact, I know we
can surprise them. And I have a few ideas on how.”
“How long will it take you to-ah-arrange your surprises?” Bal-Simba asked.
“The longer the better, but I can have some stuff ready in a few days.”
The black giant turned his attention to Moira. “And you said that Wiz
believed we had at least two weeks?”
“So he said, Lord.”
“Then we had best postpone our plans for an immediate attack. A few days
will make us much stronger without appreciably strengthening our
opponents, I think.” He turned to Judith. “When can you begin?”
Judith took an apple out of the fruit bowl. “How does right now sound?”
In the event, it took a few hours longer than that to clear off her old
desk in the Bull Pen and get started. It was after midnight when Malus and
Juvian reported to her there.
“Moira tells me you’re pretty good with the spell compiler.”
“We are hardly what you might call skilled, Lady,” Juvian said. Malus
stifled a yawn. He hadn’t been up this late in years.
“Okay, I want you to pick out the best of the apprentices and journeyman
wizards. No, let that wait until morning. There are a couple of things I
want you two to start on right away.”
“You mean tonight?” Malus asked.
Judith smiled. “Get used to it. The time-expansion spell only works from
sundown to dawn and we’re going to need all the time we can get.”
The morning sun was streaming into the Bull Pen when Moira came calling.
Juvian and Malus had dragged themselves off to bed some time before, but
Judith was still hard at work.
“My Lady, Bal-Simba sent me to see if you are in need of anything.”