The Baron's craftsmen were used to his strange whims and did their best to interpret his wishes. The latest had been easy to understand. "I need two La-Z-Boy recliners, and a piece of one-inch-thick glass mirror in a wooden frame, at least five feet square." Both things were doable and delivered quickly. The workmen mounted the mirror on the wall of a room with thick carpets, wine racks, and a large buffet table. The recliners went into the same room. The workers were curious and joked about the nobles reclining in front of the mirror and asking, 'Who is the fairest in all the land?' Their guess about a magic mirror was surprisingly close to reality.

Later that night, as the sun set, Billy and Layla reclined in their comfy chairs with a table of snacks and alcohol between them, and more on the side table. Billy was enjoying a real-world favorite that up until now hadn't been available. "Remind me to thank the farmers who managed to breed popcorn. The Uncle Vern show just wouldn't be the same without it."

Also on the table between them was Billy's 'Bowling Ball'. His control of the artifact was increasing, and he'd learned to project the image onto a mirror, giving them a big screen TV for watching Vern's adventures.

Layla agreed. "But the first episodes were still fun, even if I was going cross-eyed trying to watch them in that thing of yours. Who knew our elite workers held such big grudges against Vern? It's delightful to watch. Feeding him to that big monster and later calling it 'heroic training' with a straight face was impressive. They don't like Vern. I mean, no one likes Vern, but these four have some deep grudges."

"I think that goes back to the War. Suzette was put under so much pressure that she almost died, and Ozzy was so angry that he had a heart attack. Both of them are ok now, according to the reports I get on them, but they blame Vern. Added to that, he tried to sell us all out with his quick surrender for cash agreement. They've got a vindictive streak that we need to be careful of. But aimed at Vern, I love it."

She nodded, slowly. Wanting paybacks on Vern, she understood. "What I'm curious about is why you have so much trouble focusing on them without Vern in the picture? I'd feel better if we had a better idea of some of the things they were up to."

He scowled slightly, also puzzled at why his eye-in-the-sky worked best on some places and certain people. "Dunno, and it's odd. I can get a look at what most of the workers are doing, but it's difficult. And more difficult inside buildings. Ozzy gives me a headache just trying. Even watching him with Vern is painful, like I'm pushing against something. I can see Suzette in the tavern, but the rest of the time can't find her at all. Rolly is easy to home in on, but the damned butterfly of his is always blocking my vision. At least I can follow Ben when he's on missions, but not when he's with people in Gadobhra. I need more practice and better painkillers."

"Or more levels. They're Tier Four, and we're only Tier Three. It matters."

"We need to practice more, but we've run out of ghouls."

"There are a lot of other things to fight. And you could ask our workers to train us after they are done with Vern."

Billy looked at her, horrified. "And go through what Vern is going through? Do you know how much that would hurt?"

"Yes, but mostly to your egos. And you have to admit, they are getting results."

Billy agreed with that. "Yeah, and they're playing it smart. We'd have never known what they were up to if we weren't observing Vern. They aren't just torturing him, they're making him better. I can't argue with their methods. Hell, it's the same stuff they do at the ranch, minus the daily death. I just wanted to see him march around in the hot sun and get torn apart by rabbits. This is so much better. They're training him fast, getting their revenge, and making him angry."

"Vern is always angry, except when he's happily gloating."

"This is a different level of angry. You should have seen him thirty years ago. Someone would cross him, and he'd get mad, but he'd be clever and efficient about it, going after them on several fronts. It was impressive and I learned things from him. Nowadays, he's a shadow of what he was, an angry old man shouting at the clouds. But I'm seeing glimmers of the old Vern. He's feeling a little better and determined to leave Nebraska and claw back his position at ACME, not that we'll let that happen. And he's a lot better now in the game. Still pathetic, but at least they have his stats in positive territory and he's burning off a lot of fat."

"Literally, in some cases. That potion of Suzette's is doing wonders, as is Ozzy setting him on fire to raise his resistance. What are they up to tonight? I watched a little of the drills Marcy had him doing, but it got boring, and we have another load of stuff coming from our importer of rare fae magical items, and I needed to get ready to dicker with him. He's a tough negotiator."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Oh, no doubt. You can hear the wheels turning in that goblin's head. He's always going to be fun to do business with. As for Vern, now that he is close to going up a tier, Marcy is trying to raise some of his odd skills, like Lead From The Rear, Leadership, and Warmongering. His skills are all odd and may take some tweaking to earn experience. She had Vern out with a new group of her troops. Vern is behind them and learning to shout orders and maneuver them on a battlefield. To make it more interesting, she has some of her veterans leaping out of cover and ambushing them. It's amazing how much havoc three guys who know what they are doing can cause to a bunch of recruits. Fun to watch. Vern had to react to the ambushes and tell them what to do, and he couldn't remember any of the commands, so it's a complete debacle. Pretty funny stuff, and he screwed it up all morning. When they were down to 22 out of 40 people, one of the recruits got pissed off and started yelling at him. He told Vern exactly what he was doing wrong and raked him over the coals. I couldn't believe it, but Vern actually listened, and the recruit stayed next to him for the rest of the afternoon, giving advice and sometimes berating him when he argued. They manage to fight off the next couple of three-man ambushes."

"What are we watching tonight, then? More of that?"

"No, something interesting, but I've got no clue what it is. But Ozzy's group is involved with it. Vern was at the tavern, choking down another poisoned dinner, and then they were going to run him out at Bunny Hill for a couple of hours of work and then a late-night adventure of some sort. Ozzy and Ben have had a crew building out there all day, setting up something."

"Now I'm intrigued. I hope they don't go easy on him."

Billy laughed, "Not much chance of that."

Marceline watched as the recruits made their way down the road, the men and women she'd recently recruited marching along slowly so that Vern could keep up. He needed to work on his Jogging skills and wasn't allowed to use the palanquin for now. They formed up as a unit on Vern's command. Twenty of them were left, actually an astounding number when you considered how fast they were whittled down in the morning. If someone hadn't knocked some sense into Vern, none of them would be here now. It was time to address that issue.

"Good to see you arriving on time, Trainee Vernon. And you managed to keep half of your men alive, not bad."

Vern looked pleased with the compliment. "I've been giving orders for decades. This is nothing new, I just need a little experience with some new ideas."

"I heard a report that one of your men was acting as an impromptu advisor, is that true?"

Vern quit smiling. He glared at the back of a man in the back ranks. "That...might be somewhat true."

She looked over the men, but the corner of her eye zeroed in on one of the recruits. He hadn't stood out to her before. He was quiet, followed orders, and did what he was told. He was one of the strange players who seemed to enjoy playing soldier and marching around until his legs fell off. She pointed at him. "You, front and center."

The private moved forward and saluted. Marcy looked at him, casually, then said, "Any reason you were yelling at your commanding officer during a combat simulation?"

"Yes, Captain."

"And that was? Tell me what happened."

"He didn't know what to do. The men were marching down the road at the double, and rather than turn and present spears, our Commanding Officer just said, "Run. I disagreed with him and told the unit to stop, form a spear wall, and then charge the three skirmishers. We lost a man but wounded the 'bandits' and forced them to retreat. After that, Vern and I had a difference of opinion, but we worked things out."

"Excuse me: 'Vern'?"

"Ah, apologies, Captain, I meant Commander Vernon."

"You understand that it's not a private's job to countermand their commander even when he's being an idiot?"

"Yes, Captain." He sighed, waiting for his punishment, and she gave it to him.

"Good, I'm glad we're clear on that, Corporal. You get a promotion and the job of acting as advisor to Commander Vernon whenever we are doing drills. You also get two hours in the evening with one of the Sergeants to go over your knowledge of small-unit tactics. What's your name, Corporal?"

He paused, just for a moment, then shrugged. "Thune, sir. Marcus Thune."

"Well, Corporal Thune, you and your unit get a quarter of an hour break to catch your breath before we begin the next exercise. Take charge of them. I think this arrangement will work out perfectly. Herding Vernon will be a pain, but I'll make sure you have some fun when we get down south."

He saluted, then yelled for the soldiers to fall out and take a break.

Marcy gestured to Vernon. "We have something special planned for tonight. We'll see how well you and Corporal Thune can defend a prepared position."