Silver Moon Bk 02 Ch 12

Mari stood and stepped from around the table and in front of the wolves who were there. Looking at them she could tell each Alpha had brought their Beta and one other male, probably a warrior. As she examined each one she really wanted to sneer. The one who spoke was on a very good day as dominant as Saul or somewhat more. Her expression was cold and distant. "I am going to inform you of my name. If you ever take that tone with me again I will ensure that will be the last time. I am Lady Marissa Logan, mate to Clan Heir Lord Geoffrey Logan of the Silver Kitsune clan. My Alpha is Lord of the Clan's Alpha Danilo Legarith."

Now she did sneer and it was a very impressive expression. "You answer to Leader Xipil who is the current Emperor. He has assigned me the job to work with the wolves in this city. Therefore you do answer to me. If you can't understand that then I would recommend you send someone who has more brains than a blowfly." Mari wasn't actually all that upset at the moment but she was going to force him to do something. What she didn't know and in a way didn't care. Since it would give her a reason most Wolves would understand for slapping him down.

By the time she was done talking he was growling in fury at her verbal assault. "Woman you can wave all the titles in the world around and all you will ever be is good for cooking and babies." Several of the other wolves laughed at his reply.

From behind her she could hear a number of growls from her wolves and anger from the Kitsunes. She held a hand up towards them. "Relax, I am dealing with this jumped up excuse of an Alpha. He is all bark and no bite since the former emperor broke him to the leash and pulled his teeth." The way she said it indicated that she felt he was nothing more than an oversized housebroken lap dog.

That was way too much for the Alpha to handle and he went to slap her. It was his first and last mistake he was going to make around her. Before his hand ever came close to her a presence was felt. Every wolf who had met the Moon Goddess immediately went down on one knee and submitted. The wolves who hadn't were frozen in place and were starting to look rather freaked out.

She walked out into the courtyard and her cool silver eyes traveled over the wolves that were still standing. Before saying anything she walked over to Mari and reached down and stroked her hair. "I will take care of this my Little Wolf. For you to break them to heel would require more time than you have. Return to your mate's side." In her voice were traces of caring for the young woman.

When Mari stood and moved back to Geoff's side Luna turned and looked at the remaining wolves. "I see I need to pay more attention to my wolves in this world. You have learned bad lessons and it is up to me to school you." Her voice had been cool and remote till she spoke again. "Submit now." When she spoke this time her voice was

POWER

and slammed the wolves facing her to the ground.

She was looking at the nine who were flattened on the floor. A low growl came from her as her ears and tail appeared. "Come to me my wolves." Her voice wasn't directed at the ones flattened on the ground but at their packs. Small glowing spots of moon light appeared and members of the packs started appearing. The courtyard expanded to fit all of them as they appeared.

As she was waiting for the three packs to respond to her call several of the pups and young wolves shifted. They let out small howls of pure happiness before they came over. When they reached her they submitted before starting to lean against her legs and begging for attention. Luna looked down and her face softened very slightly. "Relax my pups and I will say hello shortly." They all settled down around her feet.

By the time the packs were there she had a number of females and males gathered around her as well. "It is nice to know the younger generation knows who I am and gives me respect." She glanced at Mari and the pups from the original pack. A number of the pups were gathered around Mari as well as some of the pups from the new packs. That pleased her since they were going to need Mari's abilities before they really knew it.

When she turned back her face hardened. "I am not pleased with certain wolves here today. I am very displeased when a wolf raises a hand to a female wolf and especially a mother. These are no longer in power. I can feel that they will cause problems and they are no longer dominant. I give the powers and I take them away when needed. I command this of you. You will replace them with better wolves and you will obey my representatives. There is a great darkness coming and you and the packs will be the rocks they will break on. This will give the other people of this world room to prepare and bring the fight to the great enemy."

As she was talking Dan and Pam as well as Xipil and a number of the other Alpha's entered the courtyard. All knelt down to the Moon Goddess. "Thank you for blessing us with your presence Mistress." Pam spoke. Both she and Dan were in mid-form. Behind them were hints of other forces.

Luna smiled at the two. "Come forth my children and be known to the packs." She had plans for the four packs of which she would let Dan and Pam know soon.

When both stood and moved over to her she was pleased when both Pam and Dan gave her a good hug. She returned it and looked out over the wolves. "These are my right and left hands, Alpha's Danilo Legarith and Pamela Legarith. They have been blessed by other forces in this land. Obey them as you would me. They are not to become your Alpha's but your Alpha's will report to them. Now begone for the moment. Replace these wolves and then return as commanded." She waved her hand and the courtyard was clear again.

~~~

The Vile One was working on a sacrifice when he felt something from the palace. With a guttural snarl he turned away from the child and went to his other room. As he was calling up the scrying spell he didn't realize he was lightly fingering the bottle which contained the essence of the demon lord. He muttered something quietly and as odd as it sounded very gently. For now he had to refrain from any sort of heavy magic use. If he was to obvious it might draw attention to him which was not a good idea right now.

When the image cleared he was looking into a courtyard which appeared to be set up for a dinner of some sort. As he was watching he noticed both a Silver Kitsune and that damn submissive wolf. He activated several more spells. The spells were to gather information on the powers in use as well as how the flows of powers were arranged. He needed to find out how much things had changed. At the moment he was also working on rebuilding his network near the palace.

As he was watching he noticed the male wolves approaching and focused on them. When he sampled their spirits he couldn't help but smirk. All of them were not pleased and he felt hints of it involving a female. He started murmuring a spell and when he activated it he found the traces lead to the female submissive wolf. With a slight smile on his face he started another spell to cause them to react negatively to her. That and to take everything she said in the worst way possible.

Once the spells were in place he started watching the results. As the most senior wolf started to react he was smirking and then activated another spell. This was so much more subtle than many of others. He tied it to the female wolf and since it didn't contain any of the black magic it shouldn't be sensed or trigger any alerts. The spell was simply to collect information on her and her connections with the others. Anything it gave him was a good thing since it would help him understand the new power structure in the palace.

As he was watching he felt another power starting to grow and he twitched since the Darkness reacted.

Let go of the spells and attach them to one you trust later. You do not want to be detected at the moment since that is the moon power you are feeling.

It was rare to get a contact like that but when he did he did as instructed. He secured the spell and let everything go. "Damn, I am going to have to have someone contact several individuals in the area to see if I can convert them."

Now that he was done he realized he had been fondling that damn little vial again. He might have to do something with it since it had been gathering his attention when he wasn't focusing on it. With a snarl he moved back to the room he had been in and looked down at the young boy. "Almost done now and your sacrifice will be worth a great deal. Thank you for this." His voice was smooth as he picked up the knife again and started working on him again.

When he finished with the boy he tossed parts in his stew pot for later. The essence he had gotten from the child was enough to activate several more spells thankfully. He was woefully under the power he had been. What made it even more frustrating was the territory he had claimed had since been abandoned. No name had been given to it other than 'the dark mountain's'. It gave him privacy but it also made it harder to collect what he needed.

When he walked out into the main room of his cave as expected he found his generals and senior officers. Most of them were from the eastern lands since the stupid natives didn't know how to organize anything larger than a tribal fight. If they had known what to do the people from the old country wouldn't have gotten a toe hold. At least the easterners knew how to fight and were far more corrupt than most of the natives. Since they were more corrupt they were so much easier to draw into the darkness. "Report." He settled down in his throne like chair and waited.

The staff all bowed down as he walked in and remained that way till the dark one spoke. Who or what the person was they didn't have any idea since he or she was always cloaked and never showed skin or features. When the general spoke his voice was rough and harsh. It was due to the ugly scar which traced across and up his neck. It had damaged his voice many years before. "As you demanded all troops have been pulled back for the upcoming winter season. Supplies have been laid in for the winter and beginning of the march next year. Supplies are still coming in from your supporters in the old emperor's country." They didn't use the name to keep from drawing attention.

"What about from the east? Have any of the special supplies been found and ordered?" Getting spell items he needed could be difficult since practicing the dark arts was severely frowned on. As far as getting slaves from the east wasn't a problem unless they hadn't born in New Nordla. With his sacrifices he needed the tie to the land being born and growing up gave the people. The stronger the tie the more power he could get. It also corrupted bits and pieces of the land as well. If, for example, he could get the son or daughter of a tribal chief their ties to the tribe added significant power.

The general managed not to flinch. "Some yes but as always certain supplies are very hard to come by. Due to this we have to be careful to ensure what is being supplied is what it is purported to be. You should be receiving a shipment of some of the herbs and salts you ordered within the next two weeks. As far as some of the artifacts you ordered a few of those will be arriving shortly as well." One of their main suppliers had been picked up and his network badly damaged. The other knew this but that didn't always mean anything.

A gloved hand came out of a sleeve and started playing with the bottle again. It was rather obvious the other didn't realize he was doing it. "Find new contacts if at all possible. Even if we have to mount a raid on a town or two we have to get some of the items ordered." The other frowned for a moment though it couldn't be seen. "What is the status of the troops and when will they be back in the encampments? I have seen the reports but I want first hand details."

The general waved another towards the open table to spread a map out. "As of now we have..." He started detailing what troops they had and where they were. Once he finished that report they started discussing supplies, munitions, uniforms, and related items. It was going to be a long day but they badly needed it after the palace had been taken over.

~~~

Even though a good portion of the attention after the turnover of power had been focused on the capitol new commands were going out. As the days and weeks had come and past Xipil had started forming the center of his new government. He had started carefully examining the existing counsel of advisors. Some he had kept for the time being, others he simply didn't care for and were released, and others were arrested. Once he had finished cleaning, as best possible, the advisors there were about a third left and for the moment he could trust them.

He had been rather brutal when it came to giving instructions. Xipil hated to be this way but they didn't have the time to screw around. Only the enemy knew what was going to happen or when an attack might happen. He needed to get the country as ready as possible so when the attack did come they would be as ready as possible. His orders were very pointed, do the work I give you or you will be cleansed. For the most important jobs he called in people he knew. Many would give him some odd looks since most of them weren't Kitsune's. Yes there were several Kitsune's, but there was a witch or two, a couple of humans, and just for balance a were-cat. He had known the were-cat for years and she was going to go over like a load of bricks.

As the military oversight he assigned a wolf, Kitsune, and human. All had skills related to the military and that balance should help to eliminate the worst of the officers and senior enlisted. He told them to review anything related to the military possible, come up with changes or improvements and run them past him. Since he knew all three he would probably rubber stamp most of the suggestions.

Another group was to start identifying and reviewing records for all the people of note across the country. This was going to be a much harder task simply due to the size of his country. That was a long term job though he needed the names of the business men and officials. He needed that information to start upgrading the infrastructure of the country. He needed the names as well for improving the equipment for his military.

Another group was going to be reviewing the laws of the land. He knew that was another long term job since many of the rules were simply based on what the current emperor wanted. That was going to stop immediately for the worst. They were going to create an imperial code of laws that were as best equal for everyone. For that he had talked to both Dan and Alysson. Both had sent for helpers from their country. They should be there soon.

The last of the major groups was assigned to find out just how much money the country actually had. This was going to draw the ire of virtually all the upper crust since they were exempt from taxes. Or a better way to put it is if they could prove in writing, usually with a massive bribe, they had even a distant relation to some imperial member they were exempt. As far as he was concerned that was no longer going to happen. If all else failed he would give a graduated income tax based on your income. The poorest would have the lowest and the richest the highest.

At the moment he was resting in the new imperial chambers leaning back in a chair trying to relax. He was physically exhausted but his mind kept coming up with more things he needed to look into. Xipil's days started early and ran late. Half the time he was having working meals just to try and keep up with everything. Yes having finally gotten the various groups setup and needed positions filled helped but not enough. He almost wanted to bite Dan since that man seemed to almost feed on what was going on. Pam wasn't much better since she seemed to have as much energy as Dan did.

Xipil knew some of that was simply because they were lycan's. They had a higher endurance for this sort of thing but it was still somewhat annoying. Since he wasn't going to drink himself to sleep every night just so he could say he had slept he settled for a cup of herbal tea. In this case he had used his powers to cool it down and ran it across his forehead. "Spirits help me; I don't know if there is going to be anything left of me by the time this is done."

He stood and slowly walked over to the bed and curled up on it. Thankfully the tea seemed to help him relax and soon he was deeply asleep.

~~~

As much as Leon wanted to spend all of his time with his mate he couldn't. He had a responsibility to his students as well as training other healers. Even though he was a spirit healer he knew a great deal about both herbal and modern medicine. Because of this he had been tasked with setting up or organizing a college of healers for the military. When Alysson informed him of this he almost snarled at her since his mate needed him.

Instead he sat down and slumped in the chair. "Alysson I will help but don't give me this job please. I can't take that much time from my mate. She needs me and if you force me into taking the job I..." He hesitated before finishing. "I will have to resign my position and petition the Spirit Lord." He hated having to say that but it was how he felt.

A very slight smile crossed her face. "I know that Leon but I can't help what is needed. I need you in charge but I will give you this. I will only require you to deal with this for six hours a day for the time being. I know your mate needs you, believe me I can feel just how much she needs you." She moved around the desk in the small office she had been given and leaned over and hugged her brother. "Find several good assistants who can do most of the work for you. Delegate the day to day jobs to them. Save your energy for the important jobs. This will also give the two of you some time apart. Both of you will need it even if the idea scares you."

Leon leaned into the hug and rested his head on her shoulder and drew in a ragged breath. "I should know better than to think that I have to be there constantly but it is hard. I can feel just how ashamed and..." He couldn't think of how to describe her emotional state. What he needed to get her to do was to change so he could actually see and check the scars and designs carved into her skin. Since she had been in her wolf form since just after arriving he didn't know how to explain that. Then again he wasn't sure if she would understand why he wanted to see her nude.

"Keep talking to her and being with her. Maybe talk to Dan and see what he might recommend. Even though she is your mate she is also a wolf." She almost mentioned the Luna but it felt wrong for the moment. Dan would have a better idea of what was needed. If he felt they should take it to the Luna he would say so.

Leon sat up and nodded. "Thank you Alysson for understanding. I will try that for now and if needed I will talk to you about changes if needed. I will talk to Dan soon." He stood and left the room and as hard as he tried not to a yip of frustration crossed his lips. Thankfully nobody was around to hear or he would have been stared at.

Tomorrow he could deal with his new assignment. Today he was going to talk to his assistants and have them do some research for him. He had tasked them with finding out what they could about whatever sort of medical school there was. In this case it was both for the troops and the civilians.

When he walked over to the room his mate was in he smiled at the pups who were playing. The wards had been further modified so that they could go somewhat into the room but she couldn't get to them. It was a nice gesture and he appreciated Dan did it at his request. "Hello to all of you and how are you doing?" From what he could tell there was an assigned rotation of the kits for the day.