Sons (Book 2)

by Scott V. Duff

  “I’m open to suggestions, but perhaps the monument?” I said cheerfully. “I would have to talk to Gordon and Martin first, of course. This would play havoc with the Castle ward. And I’m afraid it would require announcing your presence.”

  “You know how to make a knowe?” the Unseelie queen asked in singsong as she swung herself lithely past me and into the open grass. “I like the idea.”

  “Probably thinking that perhaps she can sense her way out while she’s there,” Ethan muttered, then sipped at some brandy, grinning at her nearly snarling face. “No, no. It’s a good idea. It’s one that Seth has already considered. But Gilán has one hell of a veil around it and it’s as thick as the day is long.”

  “You are very confident in your Lord’s power,” Lady Summer said exerting some of the heat she stole earlier, directing the sexual energy at the column of testosterone of Ethan and Jimmy.

  “Seth is my brother, not my lord,” Ethan said.

  “Daybreak is my Lord,” Jimmy said maintaining his fiery appearance. It really wasn’t a drag off my energy at all and frankly, it looked cool.

  “So,” I asked a little excitedly, “Will something like that satisfy you both for a time? If I create a knowe into a small area and let you walk around for a few moments?”

  The two Sidhe’s eldest stared at each other for a long moment in consideration. The Unseelie Queen already admitted to liking the idea and her “cousin” gave indications likewise. I don’t know exactly where I missed the communication because I saw no movement on any physical, mental, or energetic plane between the two elven entities. Absolutely none, and yet…

  “That would be a lovely gesture, Lord Daybreak,” the Summer Queen cooed, turning seductively—just about everything she did had some sexual content.

  “Do you have any preference for sites to see? And yes, my bed is out of the question,” I said smiling.

  “What is this monument you spoke of?” Summer asked slyly. “Some remnant of the past in your new realm?”

  “Oh, no,” Peter snorted and chuckled before I could answer, so I let him. He seemed to go a long way away for it, though. “Seth’s Fae gave it to him on the Great Claiming. Elegant and emotional. As Ehran read the faery language, the stonework almost came alive.” Then he looked up at them with a grim smile. “And when the sprites joined in, I was almost drawn right back in the fight again. Amazingly poetic little fireflies.”

  “That should be sufficient for now, Lord Daybreak,” the Winter queen whispered on the breeze.

  “Very well, Ladies,” I said. “If you’d like to adjourn to your emissaries’ camps, I’ll speak with the Cahills. Otherwise there’s no need to let your presence be known here, if you don’t want it.”

  “As you wish, Daybreak,” they said together and then they were gone.

  “Shrank?” I called the pixie from Kieran’s shoulder. “Would you do me a favor, please?”

  “Yes, Lord?” Shrank piped, jumping free from Kieran’s aura-less aura.

  “Would you find Mike and ask him to bring my phone?” I asked the pixie.

  “Yes, Lord, right away,” Shrank flew off immediately toward Dad, veering off at the last second to the right and down to the grass, disappearing into the dark.

  “You feel comfortable doing this?” Kieran asked as he sat on the couch opposite me.

  “As comfortable as I ever will, I think,” I answered. “Jimmy, would you go get Gordon for me, please? Besides, it’ll brunt the problem with the Accords quite a bit.”

  “Problem? You aren’t going to sign on to the Accords?” Dad asked, very alarmed and worried.

  “Oh, no, it’s not that,” I said, quickly, trying to placate him. “The problem is that not that much of it is binding on me. At least, not as much as they think it will. Have you ever read the Accords? I mean, all of it, not just the human side?”

  “There’s more than one part?” he asked.

  “What do you think we’ve been doing for the last three hours?” Kieran asked, chuckling. “It’s written in the Elven High Tongue and he was reading at twice the rate I was. You know how hard that crap is to read.”

  Jimmy came back with Gordon in tow. “He was right outside already,” he said, grinning crookedly. “Apparently he’s been looking for us.”

  “If you wanted to be alone, you could have raised the privacy ward,” Gordon grumbled. “It’s what it’s here for.”

  “Wadn’t their doing, Gordy,” Ethan said, pouring himself another brandy. He’d either acquired a taste for alcohol since the Rat Bastard’s dinner party or he was merely being “social.”

  “The Mothers wanted a word without everyone knowing they were here,” I said.

  “’The Mothers’? The Queens?” Gordon asked, surprised. “Here! Now! And the wards didn’t even tremble?”

  “Calm down, Gordon,” I said, knowing it was a hard pill to swallow for him. “They are shadows of themselves right now. In the wards, they’re hidden in their daughters’ aura. With all these people moving about, it’s not surprising that a shadow would be missed. They’ll announce themselves if you agree and then they’ll show in the wards quite obviously.”

  “Agree to what?” he asked, suspicious.

  “They want to visit Gilán and I, for obvious reasons, don’t want them to,” I explained. “But since there’s going to be a problem with me signing the Accords, I want to throw them a bone to placate them, to ease the situation somewhat. I want to create a knowe, a small pocket of Gilán, here, that they can walk around in, see and feel Gilán. I won’t do it without your permission, though.”

  “Why? What’s it going to do?” he asked, still suspicious.

  “Other than play havoc with the wards and wear Marty out, there won’t be any effects lasting longer than the end of the spell,” I said.

  “Can everyone watch?” he asked.

  “Yes, but remember the Queens,” I warned. “I have little experience with how they will act. I’ll be using the monument as the focal point so the clearing can be fairly large.”

  Shrank flitted in as Gordon considered the issue a moment longer. “Would it be possible for some of the council to perhaps meander through after the Queens have been satisfied?”

  “Yes, but remember the Queens,” I said again, relieved.

  “All right, what do I need to do to make this work?” Gordon asked. Mike slipped into the alcove, quietly moving behind him.

  Reaching back into my room, I plucked an Esteleum fruit from the bush in my garden and handed it to Gordon. “Give this to Marty and tell him to eat all of it. Things will get a little stressful for him, but that’s all. I’ll use the empty field right next to this one to the northeast, about two acres in the center. Send someone to each of the emissaries’ pavilions and tell them we’re on in about half an hour. All right?”

  “Are you sure about this, Seth?” Gordon asked cautiously. “This sounds risky to me, letting the Queens into a link to Gilán, I mean.”

  “Yeah, they couldn’t hijack a link to Gilán any easier than Gilán itself,” I reassured him. “And as Ethan pointed out, it has a hell of a security system on it!”

  He turned to leave, chuckling at me. “What do you want me to tell the councilmen?”

  “For right now, tell them we have a huge surprise brewing and they should be really excited!” Peter called after him.

  “That’s putting it mildly,” Kieran muttered.

  “I don’t know what a ‘knowe’ is. What exactly are you doing?” Dad asked. Kieran turned to me as he sank back into the opposite couch. He kept staring, sipping brandy, waiting for me to answer a question I didn’t know how to answer.

  “It’s sort of like treating the dimensional barriers between here and there like cellophane and bending and twisting and stretching it all at the same time until it doesn’t know it’s not there anymore. Does that make sense?” Dad just stared at me with the exact same look Kieran was giving me. Shaking my head at the two of them, I brought an image of the
monument in the field into the air between us. “What I’m going to do is bring this place close enough to here that they will be able to walk through it and feel like it’s there. Does that make sense? Please?”

  “What do you do with this space?” Dad asked.

  “What space?” I asked confused.

  “The one you’re… supplanting,” he said, concerned apparently for the conservation of energy in the universe.

  “Nothing,” I said, quirking my head to the side. “Marty will have a mild case of double vision in that area, though.” I looked for Mike, finishing the last of my water. “Mike, can I have my phone, please?”

  Stop and breathe. I was moving too fast, missing something. It wasn’t hard to see once I ran through everything.

  “They weren’t surprised. Why?” I asked quietly, myself more than anyone.

  “I noticed that, too,” Kieran said. “Fairly glossed right over it.”

  “Neither was Gordon, for that matter,” Peter said.

  “You’re talking over my head again,” Dad complained. “Who are they and what weren’t they surprised about?”

  “The Queens weren’t surprised when I told them there was a problem with me signing the Accords,” I said. “And Peter pointed out that Gordon didn’t seem to bat an eye, either. I don’t understand why.”

  “They are probably assuming that they will have to force you to sign,” Dad said. “Or at least, try to force you. ‘Persuade’ might be the word the Queens will use.”

  “It’s not a matter of persuasion,” I responded, sighing. “I’ve got to get this going or we’ll be here all night. I’ll be back shortly. Jimmy?” Waving for him to follow, I dismissed the worries of the Accords for a moment and headed for the target field while I scrolled through the contact list of my phone. I had to open a tiny portal to Dublin to get any reception, though. Messner’s phone went to voicemail on the first call, but I tried again a minute later.

  A sleepy voice answered this time. “Messner.”

  “Agent Messner, Seth McClure, sorry to wake you, but I have a proposition for you and your generals if you’re still in Dublin,” I said cheerfully as Jimmy and I made it to the field I wanted. “Unfortunately it’s a very limited time offer and the clock is moving very quickly now so you’ll have to move fast.”

  “Yes, all right, I’m awake,” Messner grumbled and rustled around in the background. “What is it?”

  “We’re nearing the end of our little convocation here and it’s gotten a little dramatic,” I explained. “We’ve had more unexpected guests. As a result, there will be some very high faery magic performed here tonight. After that, I’m gonna want to go home, so I thought it polite to offer your generals the opportunity to talk, still, but on my side of the veil, so to speak.”

  “How long have we got?” Messner asked still groggy but attentive.

  “Hnh, twenty minutes to decide and pack for overnight and be in the lobby of whichever hotel you’re in,” I answered.

  “Twenty minutes? Are you nuts?” Messner exclaimed. “These fuckers’ll barely move that fast for the President!”

  “My visitors are little more powerful than he is,” I said. “Nineteen minutes, Agent. I’ll call back shortly.”

  Disconnecting the call, I exhaled slowly and examined the field we stood in. Exerting my presence marked the area I would use for the knowe, giving plenty of room for a gallery of voyeurs. Gordon would have loved the chance to move a seat of bleachers over here, I bet. Excitement built up in the crowd behind me. Even at a distance, I could feel word being passed that something happened that required a response from me and now High Magic was coming. Gordon was playing the crowd.

  Shifting over to the Throne Room, I called, “Ellorn? Sorry, bud, but I need you some more tonight!”

  “Yes, Lord?” he asked, standing in front of me suddenly. Fast little bugger.

  “The Queens have shown up at our little confab,” I said, watching his eyes nearly bug out of his little head at first. “And I’m putting them off visiting by drawing a knowe over there. I thought to use the monument as the site. Or perhaps this room, I was going to offer them the choice, but if you or anyone else objects to using the monument, I’ll take it off the table of options.”

  “Certainly not, Lord! We have no objections at all! We have great pride in our Lord and all the actions that led to our salvation,” Ellorn squealed earnestly.

  “Thank you, Ellorn, the feeling is mutual,” I said with equal emotion. “Okay, then, would you send a runner out there and make sure that the area around there for about thirty yards out is kept clear for the next few hours and in here as well. I’ll figure something else out if they want something different.”

  “Simply done, Lord,” Ellorn said.

  “I’ll be returning with four men and will need a place for them to stay overnight. You know Agent Messner from a day or two ago, and three high-level generals that think they’re really important. They probably haven’t wiped their own asses in years so they’re going to need some attention.”

  “Again, simply done, Lord,” Ellorn said with a smile.

  “You’re a prince, Ellorn, thank you,” I said, smiling back. “It’ll be about thirty minutes or so, okay? Is Alsooth up?”

  “No, Lord, Laston has the barracks at the moment,” he answered.

  “Laston,” I called, reaching out through Gilán to the sprite in the barracks. It was still early in the evening and he was watching several men training in the gym.

  “Yes, Lord?” he answered timidly. This was the first personal contact that we’d had outside the geas bindings. He was confident in his abilities but still scared of me.

  “Would you inform Major Byrnes that we will have three Pentagon generals on Gilán shortly,” I told him. “They may or may not wish to speak with him tonight, I don’t know, but he should probably be ready for them if they do. He shouldn’t be overly worried as nothing will be decided on their behalf tonight, though.”

  “Yes, Lord Daybreak,” Laston responded as he started moving through the gym.

  “Thank you, Laston,” I sent back to the nervous sprite. Then I shifted back to the foyer of the Cahill Castle. “Bored yet, Marty?”

  He whirled around on me with fire in his eyes. “Don’t do that!” he yelled, the Castle’s energy coruscating off him like liquid fire as he eased it back into the defenses. “You scared me! I could have fried you with that.”

  “Sorry, Marty,” I apologized. “Did Gordon tell you what’s going on?”

  “He came down and gave me that Esteli-thing,” Marty said. “And he said you were going to do something big on the hill that you said was gonna mess with the wards. He said that I should watch carefully but not interfere or I’d crash the Castle.”

  “Right, sort of,” I said. “Did he tell you that the Queens are here?”

  “What? Where?” he cried, angry that he missed them.

  “Don’t get upset about it,” I said, attempting to mollify him. “They probably slipped in under their daughters’ auras. There’s not a ward in the world that would have caught that, including mine.” Not true, but they were the freaking Queens of Faery. For all I knew, they came through the bedrock that the castle itself was built on. It seemed to placate him some, but he still searched the grounds around the faery encampments.

  “What I’m going to do up there is build knowe, which means I’m going to pull a small part of Gilán over here for a little bit and let the Queens walk around in it. That way, maybe I can put them off actually visiting for a few years and give me some time to grow and stabilize.”

  He stood still for a moment, then said, “That sounds reasonable. But will it work?”

  I chuckled. “You mean, will it put them off for a while? Pretty sure, yeah. They agreed to it, anyway.”

  “What’s it gonna feel like, do you know?”

  “I think for you it’ll feel like the two places will be overlaid,” I speculated. “Sort of like two pictures printed on top
of each other at the same time. Other than that, it shouldn’t be that much different for you. Your biggest challenge will be them. They will feel really big in the wards once they announce themselves. I’m pretty sure the Castle is going to have a fit about it. There are… contingencies built into it that might be hard to handle.”

  “You mean the Faery protocols,” Marty said, reaching up in to the wards and activating a usually unused section of the Castle’s defensive strategies. “There must be some way to accommodate them.”

  “Uhnnn, I don’t see it if there is, Marty,” I said, following him through the protocols. “If you find one, great. If not and I see that you’re starting to have trouble, I’ll send Kieran or Ethan down to help. I don’t want you getting hurt trying to fight an overload of something, okay? If it does start to happen, let it! I can handle a power feedback more easily than you can.”

  “Okay, Seth,” Marty answered timidly.

  “If you don’t believe me, I can stand in the middle of the moat to prove it,” I said, totally lacking in bravado. The idea of that did scare him. “There’s one more weird thing that’s about to happen. Did you see the South Gate earlier? When the limo with Messner showed up?”

  “Yeah,” he said, brows knitting identically to his brother then.

  “I’m about to pop over to Dublin to get them,” I said. “I’m gonna take ‘em back with us tonight. See if I can take care of several problems together.”

  “Through the wards?” he asked. “I thought you couldn’t do that.”

  “Moving through Gilán and using portals are subtly different from one another,” I explained. “They will still show in the wards and they will set them off but I won’t since the wards don’t see me.”

  He sighed uncomfortably. “Okay, Seth,” he said.

  “Tell ya what,” I said, searching for something, anything, to put him at ease about this. “I’ll warn you through the key before I come back and you can watch for it. That way, maybe we’ll be able to find a way to add something to the wards that will both mark them and us.” That did perk him up, so obviously I chose right.