The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“They snuck behind our lines, and grabbed her before teleporting her away. Kathra herself placed a slave mark on her. She wasn’t able to tell her much about Master Thomas because she didn’t know much… But Kathra has learned the location of Ealphamir… That is horrific… She can now move directly on us….” Tavorwen breathed in horror, “Then she was given instructions and sent… to die… in an attempt to kill Master Thomas.” Tavorwen read.

“So she was turned from a soldier into a living weapon in mere hours?” I demanded.

“… Minutes…” Tavorwen corrected. “She says the only reason she had time to write this was that going to see you as directed would have drawn suspicion and she was ordered not to draw suspicion.”

My blood boiled. I’d decided earlier I would have to take the fight to Kathra, but this was a potent reminder that Kathra would do whatever it took. If this was her first attempt, how low would she stoop when she realized that this had failed.

“Tavorwen, take that to the investigators. It should rapidly accelerate their discovery. Creadean, come with me. We need to see Durithana.” I declared.

The she-elves exchanged a glance, the ice in my voice making them nervous, but they dipped their heads in acknowledgement. Tavorwen hurried away. Creadean fell in step with me as I walked out of the barracks.

I was still fairly new to Ealphamir, but I believed I could make my way back to the great Ash tree where Durithana did her work. Creadean only had to suggest I adjust my path once. When we walked in, Durithana was pounding what looked like a blade into shape.

“Welcome, Master Thomas!” Durithana greeted me, setting the blade back into her furnace. “Is something wrong with the Great Bow?”

“Great Bow?” I asked in some confusion.

“Sorry, that’s what I called your pellet flinger while I was working on her. Have you named her yet?” Durithana explained.

I shook my head, “Not yet.”

Durithana shook her head, “The beauty deserves to be named. I see you painted her.”

I glanced at my rifle over my shoulder. “Yeah, she’s done good work. And now she sticks out a lot less as she tears Kathra’s forces apart.”

Durithana grinned, “So the rumors are true? You’ve already deployed and absolutely annihilated Kathra’s forces?”

I returned her smile. “She’s killed multiple wyverns, a few shadow elves, and several gruthir. I don’t shoot fleeing foes.”

Durithana shrugged, “They’d shoot you in the back. But I suppose being the more honorable person is the noble path… But if the Great Bow is performing well, why are you here?”

I felt my face tighten and my brow furrow. “Kathra just made an attempt on me in my home, capturing and enslaving one of our soldiers and using her as a living explosive.”

Durithana’s eyes widened in horror and she sat down. “By the Father….”

I nodded, “It’s time I took the fight to them, but I need faster shorter range weapons than the great bow. Can you make them?”

Durithana nodded, “My instructions are to make anything you need. That’s why I have these that I finished earlier.”

She motioned to three more magazines for my sniper rifle.

“So what are these other weapons do you need?” Durithana asked.

“I need new firearms. A shorter rifle built for a high rate of fire, and a handgun.” I explained.

“Hand… gun?” Durithana processed.

“It’ll be easier if I sketch them and start explaining how they work. You can let me know if there are simpler ways to accomplish what I need with magic as we go.” I explained.

I first sketched out my combat rifle. I knew the science and engineering behind the rifles I had used back home, I wanted the capacity to go full auto on these monsters. I explained the two common methods for cycling rounds: direct blowback and gas operated. Durithana seemed unimpressed by the gas operated system.

“Seems overly complex to me.” Durithana shrugged. “Why wouldn’t you just use the other one?”

“Direct blowback works better for smaller arms and smaller caliber… bullet size. I want to be slightly higher in caliber than works really well. Can you simplify things with magic?” I asked.

Durithana rubbed her cheek, “Maybe, but it could also break everything. You said this thing can throw how many of these ‘bullets’ in a minute?”

“Usually the magazine holds twenty to thirty rounds… bullets… but could theoretically fire seven hundred to nine hundred bullets in a minute.” I explained.

Durithana sighed, “Damn it to the Eleven Hells. I have never actually run into this problem before…. Our magic might not be able to keep up with that.”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

Durithana sighed and pulled up a quiver. “You see, our quivers and your bullet cases for the great bow, can supply a number of arrows, or your bullets, each minute that exceeds anything an archer, or your great bow, could put out in a minute… But magic has its limits. Now, could there be an enchanter that could make a bullet case for you that could generate nine hundred of your bullets in a minute? Maybe. They’d be a once in a generation enchanter. With most enchanters you’d be lucky to get one hundred bullets in a minute.”

I nodded, “That should be fine. The heat of that many rounds being fired could damage the rifle anyway. You generally want to let your firearm cool and not just fire an endless stream of bullets.”

“Cooling can be an issue… good to know.” Durithana muttered. “Anything else problematic with these weapons?”

I thought about it, “They are really loud. It can damage your hearing if not addressed. The… er… Great Bow is quieter than I’d expected, but eventually it’ll cause issues. At least with firearms, it is only a short burst, instead of extended periods of loud noise.”

“Why didn’t you mention that earlier?” Durithana demanded. “That is easy for magic to fix. Silence is a simple magic to utilize. The drawback is that silence deafens you to your enemies and your enemies to you… if you only need it for a second though… we could incorporate a silence effect that only lasts a split second into the… you called it a primer?… Would that work?”

I blinked. “If you could make the sound of firing non-existent, there would still be a sound from the bullet, but it would be an amazing improvement.”

Durithana picked up one of the magazines on the table. “I’ll have Calinar modify these primers for you, and then you can trade them for your current one and she’ll fix it too.”

Durithana looked at the rifle barrel over my shoulder, “If we want you to remain armed, what I could do is make a new tube for the Great Bow, and we could swap them out. The new tube can be made to be more resistant to fire…”

I blinked, “That would work.”

Durithana looked down at the drawing of the gas operated system. “I think I understand the basic idea here. I want to make sure I can make something that works before I try and change anything… These measurements correct?”

“Well, the measurement conversions we used last time were accurate. So, they should be correct.” I assured her.

“Alright, I’m gonna want to see how this works this time. There are more moving parts here than the Great Bow had.” Durithana murmured. “Now, about this hand… gun… what’s it about?”

I sketched it out and listed the measurements.

“Oh! A single-handed weapon.” Durithana laughed. “I guess if you called these guns, that would make this a handgun. Such a quaint term.”

I began to wonder how the magic of translation had translated the word.

“Now this… this seems simpler. But the rounds are smaller…. Wouldn’t that have less penetrating power?” Durithana muttered looking over the design. “Less powder… smaller round… Now, why do you use lead? Wouldn’t a stronger material be better?”

I realized I was being incredibly dumb. I smacked my head. “I am being stupid. We use lead because it is cheap and plentiful, and the idea was quantity of projectiles over quality.”

Durithana gave me a bemused look. “I’ll swap out the lead for something better… I might be able to spare enough adamantine for these pellets. That will really give you some punch.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“How long will it take you to put these together?” I gently prodded.

Durithana rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, this is for you… so I may be able to get some help. I’ll put in the petition for more workers, with two assistant smiths, I should be able to get these out by early tomorrow afternoon.”

I inclined my head, “My thanks.”

Tavorwen arrived and looked over the designs, “More weapons?”

I nodded. “If I’m going to storm the shadow elf stronghold, I need weapons for the occasion.”

All three elves gaped.

“Wait, you’re going to do what?” Creadean breathed.

“Kathra brought the war to my doorstep. Time to return the favor.” I growled.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Tavorwen asked gingerly. “Your weapons have proved highly effective, but… the shadow elves have always had a place to retreat to. What will happen when they don’t have anywhere to retreat to? They will have to stand and fight. Can you really stand against the entirety of Kathra’s army?”

I shrugged. “I’m not going to kick in the door first thing. If I poke the beehive, I can swat the bees as they swarm to protect the nest. I can do it at range, then once I assess their strength I can decide what to do.”

Creadean breathed out a slow whistle. “No one has been able to touch El’Muth’Ran since it was built. That would be a major shift in the war….”

“You cannot support this idea!” Tavorwen rebuked. “It would be suicide!”

“There are a set of sayings where I come from.” I said, “the first is ‘The best defense is a good offense’ and the other is ‘The best offense is a good defense’. What they mean is that by being proactive and putting your enemy on the defensive makes it harder for them to attack you, so long as you are secure enough in your position that you don’t over-reach and put your head on the chopping block.”