Chapter 77
Part 13
“But these four fine young persons raised some important points recently; that most of your young
killed each other before they became adults, that all of you could be trained to be much more effective
in war against the demons than you presently are, and that we might need every bit of help we can get
to prevent the demons frompletely destroying this world.
“Therefore they were given permission to prevent your young from killing each other, and to initiate
efforts to train you to be an army, and to integrate your military capabilities with our own.
“You have given your verbal agreement to our terms. We are now gathered here to swear binding oaths
to enforce our agreement.
“Governor Longstrider?”
“Thank you sire.” Reggie told him with a small bow, and turned to the Sylvan elders.
“Today marks a new beginning for your people and mine, and I’m confident that our association will
benefit both our peoples…
“What a pile of crap!” a Sylvan woman yelled from the audience. “You’ve enved our children and
insulted our culture!”
“How have we insulted your culture?” Reggie calmly asked as he rose two meters from the tform so
he could meet the eyes of the woman who’d spoken.
“The winnowing is what makes us strong!” the woman yelled. “The Sylvan have gained in ability far
faster than any other race, ever since we began on this world! Generation after generation, we are
stronger, faster, more powerful and more intelligent, because the weak are culled from our race before
they can breed! It is a natural and necessary part of being a Sylvan! With our birthrate, we would
consume everything on the world and then starve, without the winnowing! Furthermore, every adult
among us has earned our ce in our society by surviving the winnowing! We deserve our standing
because we have fought and suffered and killed for it, even under the restrictions of our god! And you
cannot rece it without using constant spells of mind control, and stealing the freedom from our lives!”
As the Sylvan spoke, Helemia had angrily walked over to the edge of the tform and red down at
the woman. She yelled back as soon as the woman finished.
“All right first of all, the winnowing doesn’t improve you in every generation, because who survives the
winnowing and who dies is almostpletely decided by luck! More than half of those who die are
killed in their first year away from their parental home, and in most cases it has nothing to do with any
doesn’t matter if some fourteen-year-old has the potential to be the greatest Sylvan who’s ever lived
when he gets hunted down by forty or fifty organized twenty-year-olds! Sure, over hundreds of
generations, the winnowing does improve you, but it’s the most costly and wasteful way to improve a
race that I’ve ever seen!
“And secondly, as to enving your children, who would probably have been uselessly killed anyway,
let’s ask your children what they think of their envement!”
In a moment she was in the woman’s mind and identifying her children; a seventeen-year-old female
and a neen-year-old male, then located them among the toons and Translocated them and the
woman to the surface of the tform.
“Give me the Truthstone.” Reggie tly demanded of Senior Dolimatbene, holding his hand out for it.
After considering the somewhat chilling intensity of his manner, she Summoned it and gave it to him.
He tossed it to Helemia, who rose a meter and caught it and pped it into the hand of the girl she’d
summoned in a single effortless motion, and held it there with a two-handed grip of surprising strength.
“The stone you’re holding is an interface to The Truthstone of Falgaroth.” she growled at the girl. “You
cannot lie while in contact with it; Senior Dolimatbene has already confirmed this. Now tell your people
and mine what it’s like to be our ve.”
“Well, uh, the food’s pretty good, we’ve all been eating a lot better for sure, and the rooms are nice, and
the work’s okay because they don’t work us too hard and we get to work with our friends. And the party
every night is really really great! I’m sure they’re casting a spell on us to make it more fun, but I don’t
care because it works so good! And they’re so good at Healing that we can do anything! I mean I
challenged Barkovenest night, even though I knew he’d beat me bad, and he did, but it was still
worth it because I knew I’d get to hurt him pretty bad before I went down, and I did, and I knew I’d be
Healedpletely one blink after the fight was over!
“And tomorrow we don’t have to build anymore, and we’re going to start having these really real-
seeming war games against demons, which will be just like being in a war except we’ll all be Healed
and alive every night! What could be better than that?!
“I mean, being in a war every day and knowing you’re going to be all right, and then being at a great
party every night where you can fight and have sex as much as you want..! I mean really, this is as
good as life gets. This is the best thing that could’ve ever happened to us.”
Everyone on the tform was surprised when the thirteen thousand young Sylvan in the toons all
stood up and cheered.
By the time it died down a few momentster, even the girl’s mother was grinning and chuckling.
“So much for the very of your children.” Helemia snickered. “They’ve been enved in Sylvan
paradise. Once the demons arepletely dealt with, we’ll let you go back to your old way of life if you
want, but I doubt you’ll want to. Personally, I think that what we’re offering is the real ideal and natural
lifestyle for Sylvan; work and fight and kill and die all day, then party and fight and have sex all night.
When we get out of the time-bubble, we’re going to offer it to all the Sylvan in the world, and I’m willing
to bet a kilo of diamonds that almost all of ‘em will take us up on it within a year.
“And beyond that, in a week we’ll have improved your abilities more than ten thousand years of the
winnowing would. The spells and techniques we’ll be teaching you are better than anything that’s ever
been used on this world before now.”
“Hmm. I have three younger children at home right now, all younger than puberty.” the Sylvan woman
revealed. “What would you have happen to them?”
“The same as the rest of you, except I doubt they’ll want to have sex at the parties.” Helemia chuckled.
“You and they will train together during the day, and party at night, and I doubt that children that young
will need a spell to help them rx enough to have fun. You’ll continue to assist with their training and
education. When they get to be fourteen or so and they’re thinking about killing you so they can steal
your house and belongings, they’ll have to settle for challenging you in the arena. When they’re past
puberty they can join the regr toons.”
The woman nodded. “All right. I can ept that.”
“Excellent.” Helemia grinned. “I’ll just put you back, and we’ll continue with the asion.”
She Translocated the three Sylvan back to their ces.
“There seems to be only one thing that you haven’t considered.” Senior Dolimatbene asserted. “And
that is the reaction of our god to everything you’re doing here. He made it in that our lifestyle was
exactly what he wanted it to be, and I’m sure he won’t be pleased when he learns what you’ve done
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with us.”
“Your god is a renegade among the Pantheon of Keran.” Reggie stated. “When the time-bubble
ends, the other gods will learn of his existence, and that he’s hidden from them since he ascended,
neither taking part in nor abiding by the resolutions that they have agreed upon among themselves
after extensive and often acrimonious debate. If this hasn’t urred already. I’m sure he’ll have bigger
problems to worry about than what we’ve done here. The other gods and the nations they’ve formed
are all sworn members of The Just Alliance now, and we do not fear The Sylvan God of Stealth.