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“Like form diplomatic alliances with other nations. We get them to help us, lend us their armies, meaning we don’t have to take on the guys on our own. Two or three armies against one are better odds in our favor. Especially if we’re scoring points elsewhere.”

“Wait. There are other kingdoms?” Frankie asked.

“I’d be surprised if there aren’t. Wally will certainly check them out to see what they would be willing to offer, but I doubt he’d put a lot of resources into it. So, we’d have to do better and have more to offer our potential allies.”

“But…if we fail to secure allies, we’re dead,” Kira said. “They’d crush us.”

“They’d probably crush us anyway. I’m sure we could build an army with equitable strength and weapons and fight it out. But in this case, the odds favor the guys, as Wally is better in tactics than I am. Given that he’s also got Mike and Jax to assist, I’d rather go with the diplomatic solution.”

“How do we get other kingdoms to fight for us?” Hala asked.

“We’d have to give them stuff, I assume,” Frankie said.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Alotof stuff. That means everything is on the table. The only thing that is nonnegotiable is the leadership of the kingdoms. That’s our endgame.”

“Okay,” said Hala. “I think I see where you’re going with this.”

“We’ll all have a job,” I continued. “But first, we combine our funds to get started. Frankie, you’ll be our farmer, but also our church pastor. Our first purchase will be seeds to start growing crops. I’m also going to allocate funds for fertilizer so we can have food early. Spread the crops out to benefit the entire kingdom, but also so that we don’t have everything in one place in case of attack or fire. I also want you to start a coffer in the church. I’ll give you an allotment to help the kingdom’s poor and to raise our point count in terms of reputation and confidence.”

“Okay. Got it.”

“Hala, you’ll be our blacksmith and our carpenter. You need to make the items with which we will barter. The more things you can make, the better.”

“I’m good at crafting,” she said.

“Excellent.” I looked at Kira, my voice cool. I was going to have to put aside my dislike of her for the sake of teamwork. “Kira, you’re our diplomat. You need to visit the other kingdoms and create alliances. Feel them out, see what they want, what we can give them. Coordinate with Hala to see if we can provide them with what they want in exchange for military assistance.”

“Why me?”

“Because I have a feeling you’ll be good at getting others to give you what we need.”

She seemed unsure how to take that but said nothing.

“What are you going to do, Angel?” Hala asked.

“We need a military of our own, even if it isn’t our focus. We’ll need conscripts and weapons. I’m also going to be the kingdom leader/politician, going among the people to see what they need. Keeping them happy is vital to our point count. I will also keep an eye on the overall economic health of the kingdom and see what we can leverage in terms of natural resources. Keeping the kingdom citizens in good spirits and prosperous will help us jack up our score.”

“Until we get crushed by the military,” Kira said under her breath.

“Not if you do your job,” I said shortly. I needed Kira to perform well or we were sunk. I wouldn’t put it past her to fail on purpose just to sink me. “Not if wealldo our jobs. Let’s get things underway.”

I quickly took stock of our inventory, resources, and money and got to work. Frankie started seeding and watering. Kira went off to the first neighboring country, and Hala started building and crafting items. I signed up conscripts and went to the villages, listening to what the people wanted.

Not surprisingly, food was foremost on their minds.

“How much longer until that first crop is ready?” I asked Frankie.

“Another ten minutes, maybe. Don’t worry, it will give me time to plant three more crops and maybe hear a confession or two.”

I grinned. “Good girl.”

Hala secured two apprentices to help her. One set up weapons, staffs, swords, while the other worked as a blacksmith. Frankie corralled people to work in the field to harvest the crops faster. I kept the army growing slowly but surely and held numerous town meetings, giving people a voice and boosting their confidence and our points.

Hours passed. Frankie pulled me aside. “Angel, I’ve been offered a box by one of my parishioners. At this point, I can’t open it or see what’s inside. It’s supposedly programmed to open after a certain amount of time. The offerer won’t tell me what’s inside and whether it’s good or bad. If I want it, I have to pay for it. Not a lot, but my resources are stretched pretty thin right now. I’d have to borrow a little money from the kingdom coffer to accept it.”

“What do you think it is?”

“I have no idea.”