by Jan Stryvant
"Kill joy," she thppted at him.
"I don't like other men ogling my women. That's my job," he said leering.
"Besides, Roxy may say no. "
Peg stopped for a moment and looked at him, "Are you recovered enough to do this? No lying, Hon. That's my job!" she giggled.
Sean smiled, "If my shop is set up, and the batteries are all there, yeah, I think I can make eight of them."
"Eight?"
"Two for you, two for Jo, two for Roberta, and two for me."
"Can't you just make this spell internal, like you do with that scrying spell of yours?"
Sean stopped and thought about that a minute. The idea did have possibilities.
"Well?" Peg prompted him.
"I'll have to think about that, and that does remind me, I need to teach both you and Roberta how to do that anti-scrying spell.
"Oh, Jolene taught us how already!" Peg smiled.
Sean stopped and smiled as he thought of that a moment, for Jolene to teach anyone that spell, she'd have to get into their mind, which of course meant getting into their pants first.
"Down boy!" Peg teased.
"I'm just so happy that my wives all get along so well."
"You're just lucky that the women you married aren't very jaded you mean," Peg laughed.
"What about Daelyn?"
"Oh, we corrupted her weeks ago!"
"And Cali?"
Peg blushed, surprising him, "I think Cali could corrupt Jolene. Apparently they teach assassins some very naughty things."
Sean laughed, "Naughty? Now there's a word I wouldn't have expected to come out of your mouth in a hundred years."
Peg giggled, "Yeah, but in this case, it fits. Well, let's get some food, then I'm gonna track down Roxy."
"Are you sure you're okay to do this, Sean?" Roxy asked him when Peg finally brought her around.
"Well, I want to check my workshop and make sure they finished setting it up properly. If it is, yeah, this shouldn't be all that difficult. It will take a fair amount of energy, but at this point I think we've made the process pretty safe. Besides, I need to test my new methods for spell creation. If this works, I think I might be able to make my machine in a lot less time than I'd originally thought."
"Okay, let's go check your workshop. You can do one, and if you feel alright after that, I'll let you do another."
Sean nodded, "Fine with me," and followed Roxy out to his shop while Peg ran off to get a bunch of bracelets. Sean had the sneaky suspicion that she'd been waiting for him to make more of them for the others.
Surprisingly his shop had been completed inside and out. Looking around, the silver spool machine that Daelyn had made for him was there, as well as all of the batteries he'd made so far. The grounding rod checked out well, so Sean got everything set up the way he liked it, and when Peg came back with both Jolene and Roberta in tow, he laid out the bracelets, stripped down to the buff, and untarred the new spell into one of the bracelets.
"I'll never get over how easy he makes that look," Roberta said shaking her head.
Picking it up, Sean used his enchanting framework to examine the bracelet and make sure it all was as it should be, then he handed it to Peg.
"Looks good to me!" Peg said and then passed it around to the others to look at.
"How are you feeling, Sean?" Roxy asked.
"Fine. Let's see how I feel after a few more."
"Stop after each one, and let me know how you're feeling, okay?"
Sean nodded.
He ended up making ten total, because he felt fine after eight, and Peg mentioned that his mother would probably like a set as well. Closing his eyes he laid back a moment and called up his stats, he hadn't recovered anything since this morning, and his mana was nearly drained as he'd had to use more of it than normal to control the process. So he hadn't done any damage to himself, but he was fairly tired.
A lot more tired than he would have been after eight hours of enchanting tags. He didn't know if it was because he was still recovering, or because these items took a lot of power.
"You okay, Hon?" Roxy asked.
"Just tired," Sean sighed and his stomach growled.
"And hungry," Roxy smiled.
"Yeah, that too," Sean smiled back at her. "Well, let me get dressed and let's go get some food and then see if there's anything good to watch on TV. I need a break."
"So does this mean your new techniques were a success?" Roberta asked him as they headed back to the house.
Sean nodded, "Yup, and I need to start making some better gear for both myself and all of you."
"You know, if you offered to make some of this for the guild, I bet I could get them to keep a few of their magic users up here around the clock, to beef up our magic defenses."
"Really?" Sean said surprised.
"Well I am the guild-mistresses' daughter," Roberta grinned.
"And her grandchildren live here too," Sean acknowledged. "It's an idea that has a lot of merit. I guess we can all discuss it after we eat."
Surprise Inspections
"Oak, a minute please?" Sean said as he walked into Oak's office. It was early Sunday morning and he'd just finished breakfast.
"Yes, Boss?"
"Those teams I told you to put together for going around to all of the councils tomorrow, how are they doing?"
"They're good to go, Boss. We can go at any time."
"Excellent, get them ready, we're heading out within the hour."
Oak looked at him, "I thought you said you told them we were going to do this on Monday?"
Sean smiled, "I lied. I want to catch them with their pants down and see just what we uncover."
Oak grinned, "I'll have everyone ready to go in thirty!"
When Sean got back to the house to grab his things he saw his Uncle Maitland looking out the window.
"What's going on, Sean?"
"Oh, we're going to go roust the remaining councils today and see about freeing their lycans."
Maitland grinned, "Not waiting until tomorrow, smart."
"Thanks," Sean said grinning back at him.
"Mind if I come along?"
"Of course not! You're more than welcome Maitland."
"Let me get my things, I'll meet you outside."
Sean nodded and went to let the girls know he was going. Roxy and Cali had both asked to come last night, and considering their fighting skills, Sean wasn't about to turn them down. Peg had also asked to come along, though Sean suspected it was because she was looking for an excuse to use her new toys.
"Everybody ready?" Sean asked, sticking his head into the room.
Roxy, Daelyn, Peg and Roberta all said 'Yes!' and he kissed each one as they went by him out the door, when he got to Roberta he stopped her a moment, "You're coming too?"
Roberta smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Roxy and I talked and we both figured one more magic user wouldn't hurt."
Sean smiled and kissed her and gave her a pat on the butt as she followed the others. Turning to Daelyn and Jolene he walked over and gave each of them a kiss.
"You two mind the shop while we're gone."
"Just don't do anything stupid, again," Jolene warned him.
"I'll behave."
"Un-huh."
"I called my uncle," Daelyn said after he kissed her, "if you need anything, don't hesitate to call him, there are a lot of dwarves in town today."
"Oh?" Sean asked, a little surprised.
"Right now, Gradatim is experiencing what it's like to not be allowed to set foot off of their property, apparently a whole convoy of heavy equipment broke down on the streets up there last night and it still hasn't moved," Daelyn said with a grin.
"They ever figure out who else was involved?"
"Not yet, but they've got their suspicions. Go have fun; I'll make sure we have room for the ones you bring back."
"Thanks!" Sean gave each of them another hug, then went outside to get everyone on the road.
They'd had to rent a dozen vans yesterday because they didn't have enough vehicles, and right now Sean was hoping he didn't end up having to buy any of them because of damages after this was over.
"The Tall Men," Sean said, "they're the biggest, so might as well knock them off first."
"What about the 'Elevens'?" Roberta asked.
Sean shrugged, "No one knows where they are, we'll just have to find their lycans in general sweeps, assuming that they even have any."
"You don't think that they do?" Roxy asked.
"They're so secretive, it would kind of defeat the purpose of buying and keeping slaves, don't you think?" Sean said.
"You just might have a point there," Peg said and the others nodded. "What about that caravan behind us? Won't anyone notice?"
"They'll all split up as soon as we hit the highway," Sean told her, "Oak spent a lot of time with Hunter and Demon laying out routes for everyone. Most of them aren't even going to show up unless we need a show of force, but they'll all be nearby, just in case."
"Where's your uncle? Didn't you say he was coming along?" Roberta asked. The van they were in was a little full, as there was the five of them, plus three of the fighters, half of one of the other teams.
"He's up in the car in front of us, with Oak and Hunter's team," Sean replied.
"So's your mom," Roxy said and then laughed when Sean scowled at her.
"No, seriously! Your mother said she was coming too and is up here with him. I got the distinct impression that she's just a little bit annoyed over everything that's happened in the last few months and is looking for someone to punish for it."
Sean just shook his head and sighed. "Probably more like the last twelve years. I would have thought that after the fight last weekend that she wouldn't be looking to get involved in anymore."
"Actually," Cali giggled in a soft voice, "I think it just whet her appetite for more."
The girls all giggled at that and Sean watched in the mirror as the other vehicles all split up as they hit the highway. Roxy was following Oak's van, and a third one was following theirs, they didn't want to be too obvious and draw any undesired attentions. A hundred armed soldiers probably wouldn't be easy to explain to the police. At least the four mages with him wouldn't stand out to any mundanes.
When they got to the estate that the Tall Men used, Oak drove up to the front gates and stopped, blocking them. Another two vehicles were blocking the back gate, though they couldn't see it from here. Roxy stopped in the street, along with two more vans, and they all quickly piled out. Sean knew that there were six more lurking around several of the corners down the street and out of sight, in case they needed more help.
"What's the meaning of this?" a man at the gate said as Sean came up to him. He was eyeing all of the armed soldiers who were now spread out.
"We're here to pick up your lycans, I would suggest opening the gates and letting us in."
"I'll do no such thing!"
Sean shrugged and punched him in the face, and as the man staggered back dropping his magical defenses from the shock of the physical attack, Sean hit him with a sleep spell, smiling as he crumpled to the ground. Turning he used his enchanting framework to figure out the spell on the gates, then quickly drained it to ground, and unlatched it, pushing it open.
Calling up his defensive framework, Sean led the others through the gates. What they found there was quite a surprise. There were three vans parked, with their side doors open and about two dozen people with dog collars on milling about them, while another six looked stood there glaring at Sean and his men.
"What are you doing here?" One of the men said, coming forward.
"We're here for them, obviously," Sean smiled.
"We were told you wouldn't be here until tomorrow!"
"Oh, and let me guess, you were going to move them all out today, before we got here?"
"What I do with my property is .... grk!"
Sean had shifted into his hybrid form and now had his hand wrapped around the mage's throat and was squeezing it, cutting off his ability to breath.
"They are not property, they are people!" Sean growled staring down at the hapless mage. "If I had waited until tomorrow, and discovered that they were all gone, I would have gotten angry, maybe even lost my temper, and probably would have killed a few of you, maybe even all of you."
Sean smiled showing his teeth and then looked at the others, who had their hands up now, as there were twenty werewolves and four combat mages, all pointing weapons at them.
"Look, I don't care what you do to yourselves, or each other. You can play your little magic user's games to your hearts content. But my people are free, and you will not include any of us, unless you are willing to hire us as free men and women." Sean looked back at the man he had by the throat and relaxed his grip a little. "Now, you're going to take me on a tour of your property, so I can be sure we got everybody, then we're going to leave. Understand?"
"You have no right!" The magic user gasped.
"Would you rather I just killed you and got one of them to do it?" Sean growled and motioned to the other five with their hands in the air. "Cause I'm more than willing to. I've had about my limit with all of your little games and other bullshit.
"Oh, and by the way, you wouldn't have been involved in that little dustup on Wednesday, were you? I hear the dwarves all have something of an axe to grind right now. Maybe I should call up and ask a few of them to come over?"
Sean noticed a couple of the ones with their hands up looked a lot more nervous suddenly.
"No! No, it'll be fine. Victor!" He raised his voice, "Escort these gentlemen wherever they want to go on the grounds."
"Yes, Kyle."
"Hunter!" Sean said without taking his eyes off of Kyle.
"Yes, Sean?"
"Bag 'em, until I'm done."
Hunter came over and grabbing Kyle's hands he pulled them down behind his back and tied them together with a heavy plastic zip tie. Next he stuck a gag in the mages mouth, and put a black sack over his head.
"Don't get any wise ideas," Hunter whispered in his ear, "we can't kill you, if you don't give us an excuse, but the moment you do, we will."
Sean walked over to one of the guys who'd been looking nervous," I'll take this one, bag Victor there as well," he said pointing to Victor, who was standing next to him now.
"What!" Victor said, eyes narrowing as he started to look angry. Sean felt it the minute Victor started the spell, and he immediately snap kicked Victor in the stomach, launching him across the small courtyard and slamming him into one of the vans hard enough that he dented it. Maitland then hit Victor with a spell that caused Victor's clothing to turn into something that looked like a straight-jacket two sizes too small and bound Victor up tight before he even hit the ground.
Another wolf immediately put a gag in Victor's mouth and followed that with a bag over his head, just in case.
"And that my friends, is the price of being stupid," Sean growled. "In case you've forgotten, I'm a mage and I can sense you casting magic. Now," Sean turned and looked at the guy in front of him who looked like he was about to piss himself, "let's go inside, and you are going to show me everything." Sean lowered his voice to a whisper then, "And if you're worried about retaliation from either of them, I'll happily kill them here and now, so if I were you, I'd be very cooperative."
The guy gulped and nodded and motioned towards the door, "This way."
"Come on, Sten," Sean called to one of the other team leaders. "Maitland, if you wouldn't mind coming as well?"
Sean followed the mage into the building with a squad of six wolves and his uncle bringing up the rear.
"So, where a
re the ones you were saving for when I showed up tomorrow?" Sean asked.
"They're out back, in the kennels," the mage told him.
"Okay, but first I want a quick tour of the house, just to be sure."
The man gulped again and nodded.
Ten minutes later, they were at the kennels, the house had been clean, and as they let out the nine lycans who were inside, Sean noticed that all of them were older. Apparently they'd decided to sell off the best of their 'stock' and save these to placate him when he showed up.
Sean waited while Sten's team dealt with their silver pellets, then had them grab any personal belongings of theirs, as well as any for those out front that was still there. Then they headed back to join the others.
"Didn't you realize that I'd come back here and punish you, the ones in charge, once they told me that you'd sold off the others?" Sean said to the assembled mages once they got back around to the front of the house. He noticed that all of the vans were now gone.
"Ummm," the guy who had been showing Sean and the others around said, looking at the ground.
Sean just shook his head, "Let's go," he said to the others, Sten's team had already led the nine they'd found of towards the gates.
"Where are we going next?" Peg asked as he got into the van.
"Totis Viribus. We figured we'd get the troublesome ones out of the way first."
"Do you think these guys will warn them?"
"Oak's men cut the phone lines and left a cell phone jammer behind. I think we've got a little while before they figure that out."
Peg nodded and five minutes later they came to Totis Virbus's place. They didn't have a compound; all they really had was a rather large house with a meeting hall and some offices on the ground floor and 'party' rooms up above. Piling out Sean just led them all up to the front door and rang the doorbell.
"Yes?" A young woman lycan answered the door.
"Time to leave," Sean said and stepped by her as one of Hunter's men put a collar on her and then a tag. Sean gave her a moment to get over the pain of the pellet in her body transforming as he looked around the lobby of the building.
"Where is everyone?"
"In bed," she told him. "It's early and they had a big party last night. It wasn't very pleasant either," she said looking down at the floor.